THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. 127 



" It is very similar in cutting to Lastrea Brimoniana. Dr. Duthie's 

 three specimens had been sorted into that packet at Eew, where 

 they were detected by Mr. Hope." 

 The entries in tlie Saharanpur Catalogue are : — 



N.-W. P. : T. <?ar^.— Ganges Valley, Dathie No. 389, Aug. 1883; Lekhim Gadh 

 under Srikanta 12-13,000', Duthie No. 392, Aug. 1883 ; 5r«. ^'ot-A.—" amongst 

 bushes'", near Kuari Pass 12-13,000', Duthie No. 5165, Sept. 1885; iTMTOflMM— near E^ 

 lam Glacier 12-13,000, Duthje No. 3667, Aug. 1884 (Specimens from Tehri Garhwa, 

 and Eumaun were contributed by Mr. Duthie to the Kew Herbarium). 



DiSTEiB. (as now known)— Jsia: N. Ind. (Him.) Sikkim Ta-ne-doo Dr King's 

 Collector, No. 4?i64, Aug 1877, 2 sheets — no rhizomes, and Gocmthang 1F,(<00' Dr 

 King's Collector, July 1888, 2 sheets. Bhot^n — Jongri, Dr King''s Collector, Aug. 

 1887, 1 sheet, with rhizome. 



I " detected " this Athyrium some years before I showed it to Colonel 

 Beddome in the Kew Herbarium ; but I had not then begun to wjite about 

 Ferns. The creeping rhizome is a very characteristic feature of the plant. 

 The frond diminishes in width from the middle very gradually to the tip : N. 

 Bnmonianum maintains its middle width of f ron d to within a few pinnse of 

 the apex, and is then suddenly rounded off. A. Duthiei is glabrous except for 

 a few scattered scales on the main rhachis : N. Bnmonianum is shaggy on 

 stipe and main rhachis almost to the tip. It has been thought that the 

 shagginess of the last- mentioned fern and its congener, N. larMcethm, Hook. 

 is a natural protection against the cold of the high altitudes at which thej 

 grow ; bub ^. Dutliiei grows as high up, and jet is remarkably glubious. If 

 it always grows among bushes, as in one instance at least Mr. Duthie found it 

 growing, the scaly clothing is not so necessary. 



To the instances in which A. Duthiei has been collected I have now to add 

 the followmg : — 



Kumaun—'R. Blinkworth 1827 : 2 fronds, with incomplete stipes, and no 

 rhizome : one with a Wallich's ticket " dentigerum, Wall." and another sheet 

 1 frond, marked by Bentham "Polypodinm dentigerum, Wall., Kumaun, 

 Wall. 1829." These are two more specimens on a sheet in the Kew Herba- 

 rium which was among A. Filix-femina, and has on it also an incomplete 

 frond of forma dentigera, Wall., with Walhch's ticket. 



{I'd be continued.) 



