THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. 721 



The type sheets in Kew are the only specimens I can find to vouch for the 

 entry of Kumaun as a habitat for this ferD. WalUch's entry in the Catalogue 

 is : — '' 341 Aspidium miiifolium. Wall, in Herb. 1823. 



1. Napalia 20., 



2. Kumaun R. B., 



3. I. Neelghiry, Notan 1826, '' 



and a cutting from the Catalogue is posted on the sheet, on which also is a note 

 by Sir William Hooker, — " E. I. C. — Aspidium aristatum^ Sw., Wallich, var. 

 eoniifolia." And there are several other sheets, agreeing, so marked by 

 Mr. Bentham. These sheets are all the very finely cat decompound fern which is 

 got eastward along the Himalaya, and in Assam and Burma, and in Southern 

 India, and which seems to me a very distinct plant from N. aristatum. The 

 softer texture seems a distinctive character. In the Synopsis Filicum it is 

 said: — ^" Dr. Thwaites assigns to (3 an erect caudex, and regards it as a good 

 species." The late Mr. George Wall, in his Catalogue of Ceylon Ferns, Notes, 

 p. 5, says : — " Aspidium {Polystichum) coniifoHum, Wall., having an erect 

 caudex, seems specifically distinct from A. aristatum, a smaller plant with a 

 creeping rhixome." 



This and the preceding species are among those on the border line between 

 Folysticlium and Lastrea, which Beddome has removed to the last-named genus. 

 Though they are the most compound of the Asiatic Folysiichums, Colonel 

 Beddome has, therefore, placed them at the head of the list of Lastreas, before 

 the simply pinnate species, and made them a separate section — *Indusium 

 reniform or orbicular, texture more or less coriaceous.'''' Under Aspidium 

 sikkimense, Baker, = Neplir odium Sikkimense, C. B. Clarke, Mr. Baker, in his 

 Summary of New Ferns, of 1891, says : — *' Like A. varium. this stands on the 

 line between Aspidium and Neplirodium, which I should not in a new book 

 keep up as genera," /.e., I understand, as separate genera. Colonel Beddome, 

 in F. B. I., t. 127, treated this fern as i^ Polystichum, and Mr. Clarke said 

 Mr. Baker preferred Beddome's picture of the involucres to the specimens when 

 he referred the species to Aspidium. In his Handbook, Colonel Beddome gave 

 Lastrea SikTcimense (Bedd. under Polystichum) ^ and said the involucre was 

 reniform. 



3. N. hirtipes, Hook. ; Syn. Fil. 26 ; C. E. 513. Lastrea hirtipes, Bl. 

 (under Aspidium), Bedd. H. B. 232 = Aspidium atratum, Wall. Cat. 380, in 



part. 



Kashmir : Ghantamula— Tangdar Forest, 5300', McDonell 1891. 



Punjab : Chamba, McDonell ; Simla Region— BAiengSkxh Forest 66-7000', Gamble 

 1898. 



N.-W. P. : D. D. ZWsf.— Jaunsar, Chachpur 7000', Gamble 1892, Chachpur Valley 

 6000', Duthie 1898 ; T. &(irh, 9000' ; B. Gdrh, 6-7000', P. W, Mackinnon 1881, 



