740 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV. 



little diminished in length, diminution thence gradual to apex ; rJmcMses straw- 

 coloured, or pale-browQ, or pale-gi'een, more or less clothed with pale-coloured 

 linear scales and fibrils, but sometimes glabrous ; frond plumose in appearance. 

 Pinnm asceudant, 16-30 pairs besides the deeply-pinnatified apex, distant near 

 base of frond, lowest 5-9J in. I. by 2-4^ in. br. Pinnules 12-20 pairs, on the 

 lower pinna3 much longest on the lower side, longest towards the middle and 

 then up to 2\ in. 1., none § in. br., and all distant, falcate ; oblong for two- 

 thirds of their length, and then acuminate, cut down to a winged rhachis into 

 10-15 segments; segments in large fronds lobed on both sides, and lobes toothed. 

 Texture herbaceous. Colour pale-green, but drying sometimes pale-brown. 

 Veins pinnate in segments, and forked in larger lobes. Sori generally absent in 

 lowest two or three pairs of pinnfe, but extending sometimes almost to the apices 

 of fronds and pinnse, up to six in lo^vest lobes, medial. Involucres thick 

 mioderate-sized, [lersistent, brown ; sporangia pale-green when yoimg." — 

 Plate XXXII. 



Afghan. : Peiwar Kotal 8000', the late Sir Henry Collett 1879 ; Aitch. 9000, 

 No. 266, 1880 Cnamed N. rir/idum, var . pallida'). 



Trans-Ind. States : with the Ohitral Eelief Expedition— 72-10,000', Dr. Harris, 

 Sir Wm. Gatacre. 



Kashmie, W.— 4-10,000', Trotter 1888, MacLeoci 1891, McDonell 1891 an^ 1894, 

 Duthie 1892-93. 



Punjab : Hazara ZJisi.— "The Gallies,"' Mrs. Queripel 1882 ; Kagan Valley Inayat 

 CSahar. Herb. CoUr.) 1896-7-9 ; between Abbotabad and Murree 7-8500', frequent. 

 Trotter 1888-89 and 1892 ; Simla Reg.— 8-WOO', Blanf. 1882-84, Hope 1886, Bliss 1891. 



N.-W. P. : 2>. B. Dist.—JnunsiM- 8000', Gamble 1892-95-98 ; T. Garh. 8-9000', 

 Duthie 1883. 



The characteristic features of this fern are — the broad frond, hardly ever 

 reduced at the base : the very long, broad and distant pinnse : the very long 

 and narrow pinnules : the pale-green colour of the frond, and the almost 

 invariably pale colour of the scales. The distribution seems to be Gon6ned to 

 the Western Himalaya and the mountains immediately to the westward of 

 British India. In colour it is similar to the much less compound i\^. pallidum 

 of Bory, a native of South- Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Some speci- 

 mens of N. ramosum approach N. odontoloma, and others N. marginatum.^ 

 Wall., which varies a good deal. But N. odontoloma never is broadest at base 

 as N. ramosum is almost invariably. Perhaps the nearest congener of this 

 species is N. Blanfordii, Hope, No. 18 above described, a fern with a more 

 limited range ; but that species is never so compound in cutting, and it always 

 has a short stipes, and dark-coloured scales. 



22. N. marginatum, Wall, (under Aspidium), Cat. 391, mainly, 

 but not the type sheet; C. R. 521, t. 71 ; Aspidium marginatum (not clearly 

 separable from) v , N. elmgatum, Hk. & Grev., Syn. Fil. 272. Lastrea FUix- 



