THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. 263 



deuxplantes, etje suis dispose de voir dans cette derniere une sousespece borcale 



de la premiere ". 



Colonel Beddf^me lately examinfd along with me all the material 

 available in Kew, including specimens Mr. Gamble had lent me, and he Cc.me 

 to the same oonolusion as before, namely, that Diplazium trotteii {i.e., 

 A. sqmmigerum) is certainly A. crenahim—thQ Kashmir plant being inter- 

 mediate. The Kew bundle of Dipl. squamigenim be considers to be a 

 mixture ; one specimen being " certainly typical A. crenafum (tripinnate), 

 but one from Japan, with very large prominent indusije may he quite a dif- 

 ferent thing. " I think Colonel Beddome is mistaken in styling any of the 

 forms — whether orenahim, trotterl, or squamigei-um as tripinnate. N'o speci- 

 men T have seen is so : the utmo=!t development is that the lowest pinnte are 

 cut down, at the base, nearly to the secondary rhachis — one cannot even say 

 to a winded rhacliis. One Norwegian specimen of A. crenatum in Kew has 

 sori longer than they usually appear, and some diplazoid ; but, as most of the 

 specimen? are fully ripe, the involucres are generaliy obscured. 



Since tlie above was le-writteUj I have again gone over the material and 

 while I still think all the Himalayan material must be idemifiw as A. squa- 

 migenim, I now consider it possible that in spreading westward to Norway 

 the Japmese plant has lost in leni^th of sori, and become A. crenatum. 

 38. A.maltioaudatum, Wall, Cat. 2-20. A. [Athyrium) nnbrosum 

 J. Sra., var. 2. multkaudatim. Wall. {D, Jcrdmii, Bedd. F. B. 1., t. 327) 

 Himalayas, Syn. Fil. 489. A. mvU'caudatum.^ Wall, Cat. 229. 0. E. 502. 

 Diplazium umbrosum, J. Smith under Athyrium, var. multicaudatum, Wall. 

 Bedd. H B. 190. 



Punjab : CAflowSa— McDonell (in list of Cbamba ferns identified at Kew) ; Simla 

 Reg.— boiow Simla (^fide Dr. King and Mr. Clarke), Blanf. in "List'''; Sirmur 

 State 1832, in Herb. Horc. Calcutta. 



N.-W P. : D. D. Disf:.—^ea,v Mussooree, Dr. G. King 1869 ,- 4-50J0', Herschel 

 1879 ; Sowarna Nala l-.^OOO', Mackinnons 1878-79, P.W. Mackinnon and Hope 1881 ; 

 « Mog^y Falls" 50 )0', Hope 1885 and 87 and 1895 ; Kumann—A. 0. Hume ; Kali 

 Valley 2-3000', Duthie 1884. 



DiSTRiB.— 4.9/0 : N. Ind. (Him.) Xepal, Wallich, Sikkim and Bhotan j Assam— 

 Khasii 1-5000'; Cbittagong (in the plains of Bengal) 20u'— 2000', Clarlie. 



I do not remember having seen MoDonell's ppecunens from Ciiamba, but I 

 believe his list to be generally correct. At Mussooree A, multimudatum grows 

 in beds, and fertile fronds are comparatively rare, and often sparsely soriferous : 

 the creeping rhizome provides for the peri:ietuation of the species in each loca- 

 lity. None of Gamble's specimens from Sikkim seem quite the same as the 

 Mussooree plant and some seem considerably different, having longer sori 

 with narrow persisti-nt involuci'es. On the IV'Ussooree plaut it is difficult to 

 fiad involucres, at least on mature fronds ; but I can make out that many sori 



