ALSOPHILA. 



53 



occupying tlie greater part of the segments. — A. Bruiionian;i, 

 M^olL Cat. n. 7073. 



Hah. Mountains of Svlhet, Dr. TFrt/ZicA. — Neither in ray own rich coV- 

 lection of East-Indian Ferns from Dr. Wallich, nor in tlie still more ex- 

 tensive one which exists in the herbarium of the Linnean Society, derived 

 from the same source, is there any specimen under this name. There is, how- 

 ever, an enonnous trunk (caudcx) of this Fern, 45 feet lonjf, deposited in the 

 British Museum, by Dr. Wallich : and from some withered remains on the 

 summit of its caudex, the above imperfect cliaracter is drawn up. It would 

 appear to be very closely allied to the A. cnntambians above described, but 

 the stij>es and rachis do not seem at all muricated. The pinnules also 

 approach very nearly some slates of A. gigantea. 



51. A. gigan1en,Vs'i\\\.; unarmed, fronds bi-tripinnate, pin- 

 nae ovato-ianceolate submembranaceous opaque (not glossy), 

 pinnules oblong-lanceolate subpetiolate acuminate pinnatifid 

 to various depths, the uppermost pinnules united into an acu- 

 minated pinnatifid apex, segments ovate more or less broad 

 slightly falcate serrated, upper side of the rachis strigose, cos- 

 ts) without scales or with a few minute deciduous ones, veins 

 simple, sori in two rows placed half way between the margin 

 and costa, receptacle elevated without hairs. Polypodium 

 giganteum, Wall. Herh. 1823, Cat. n. 321. Gymnosphaera 

 gigantea, J. Sm. Gen. Fil. Polypodium altissimum, IVall. 

 in Herb. 1820. Cyathea venulosa, IVal I. Cat. n. ISO. Al- 

 sophila venulosa, Wall. Cut. in Inde.v. Polypodium? umbro- 

 sum, Wall. Cat. u 336. 



Hab. Svlhet. Nepaul. Mountains of Tenasserim, Wallich. Ceylon, 

 Mrs. Walker, 71. 1919. Penang, Dr. Wallich, Lady Dalhousie. Java, Mil- 

 lett. — Caudex gigantic, 50 feet high ( Wall.) Fronds simple, but so varia- 

 ble in the form and size of the pinnules in our copious specimens, that it is 

 scarcely possible to define them in words. I find no tubercles or aculei on 

 the stipes or rachis. The pinnules are remote on the lower part of the main 

 rachis, gradually becoming closer upwards, till they unite and terminate in 

 a long, pinnatifid, acuminated point. Pinnules on some specimens '2 — 4 

 inches long, half an inch broad: in others ti inches long and 1 inch broad: 

 segments varying much in length and in the depth of the sinus, all of them 

 slightly falcate, serrated, the veins almost invarialdy simple ; lines of fruc- 

 tification in two rows, occupying nearly the whole length of the segment 

 between the margin aud costa. The texture of the frond is rallier thin, not 

 approaching to coriaceous ; the color very dark in drying. — It is a trunk of 

 this species which forms so conspicuous an object on the stair-case of the 

 apartments of the Linnean Society of London. 



52. A.coniosa, Wall.; unarmed, stipes densely clothed with 

 long chaffy pale brown deciduous scales, rachis strigose or 

 almost setose above, fronds bi])iunatc, jjinniu united towards 

 the apex so as to be there pinnatifid, i»iunidcs sessile or nearly 

 so oblong-lanceolate moderately aciuninaled submeml)rana- 

 ceous pinnatifid about two-thirds of the way down, segments 



