166 



Sori round or oval, superficial or buried in 

 the hairs. Fronds as a rule simple, covered 

 beneath with a dense coating of stellate hairs. 

 Veins copiously anastomosing, obscure, undefin- 

 ed or evident with the main veins prominent. 

 Fertile fronds more or less contracted and 

 longer than the sterile. 



Niphobolus adnasceiis Kaulf. 



Rhizome long, creeping, scaly. Stipes scaly. 

 Fronds 2-8 inches long, simple, entire ; of two 

 kinds, the barren ones oval-lanceolate ; the 

 fertile ones narrower, linear-lanceolate with the 

 apex blunt or acute. The upper surface smooth 

 and green, the lower covered with stellate 

 (star-shaped) hairs, often very densely. Texture 

 fleshy to leathery. Midrib prominent, veins 

 immersed in the substance of the frond, anasto- 

 mosing, the areoles including 2-4 free veinlets 

 which are club-shaped at their apices. Sori 

 often restricted to the upper half of the frond, 

 reddish brown in colour ; sporangia mixed with 

 long-stalked stellate hairs. 



In some specimens examined by us the 

 distinction between sterile and fertile fronds does 

 not exist. 



