THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. 741 



mas, var. v , elongata, Hk. & Grev., Bedd. H. B. 250, and Suppt. 56. 

 Plate XXXIIL 



Mr. Clarke's deaoription is : — " Frond large, oblong or ovate-lanceolate, not 

 narrowed at the base, 2-3 pinnate ; lowest pinnae often 12 in. 1., falcate ; 

 main and partial rhachises nearly free from scales ; tertiary pinnte oblong, 

 obtuse, serrate or pinnatifid sometimes nearly to the midi'ib ; textm'e, venation, 

 and sori nearly as Filix-mas. — Himalaya, alt. 6-9000', from Bhotan to 

 KumauD, common in Sikkim ; Khasia, alt. 5000' ; Kohima 6000'." 



Mr. Clarke observes : — " This form is called var. elongatum [of N. F.-mas) in 

 the Kew bundles, and also by Indian collectors ; but I do not see that it is 

 much like N. elongatum, Hk. & Gr., Ic. Fil. t. 234 {Aspidium, Milde, Fil. Eur. 

 124), which is founded on a Macaronesian fern that seems to me much more 

 like var. Khasiana." In this I quite concur, but I cannot do so in what follows 

 the above. N. marginatum, Wall., is quite common as far westward as Simla, 

 and even in Western Kashmir, according to Col. MacLeod ; and I have a speci- 

 men from the Hazara District collected by Mr. Trotter. I give the habitats I 

 have notes of — as follow: — 



Kashmir: On the range between Jhelam and Kishenganga Valleys— "common 

 from 6 to 11,000';' MacLeod in MS., 1893. 



Punjab : Hazara Dist. — near Dungagali 7000', Trotter No. 546, 1890 ; Chainha — 

 below Dalhousie 5000', Blanford 1886 ; McDonell ; Kangra Vy. Dist. — Dharmsala 

 6500', Trotter ; Simla Begion— Simla, 5500'-6000', Hope, Blanford, Bliss, 



iV-IK P. : D.D. Dist. — Mussooree and neighbourhood, irom 500Q to 6950', common 

 in forest. T. Garfi.--Aglav Valley, Duthie ; Kumaun 47-6000. 



DiSTEiB.— J.sia : N. Ind. (Him.)? Sikkim (common), Bhotan ; Assam— Khasia 

 5000', Kohima 6000' Clerhe. S. Ind., on the Western Mts., 4-6000', Beddome. Ceylon 

 (Beddome H. B.). Malay Peninsula— Perak (Beddome Suppt. H. B.). 



The description of N. elongatum, Hk. & Gr., given in the ' Spicpsis^ under 

 N. FiUx-mas Kich., is: — *'/r. sometimes 3-4 ft. 1., 2 ft. br., subdeltoid, 

 quadriplnnatifid ; lower pinnaee 1 ft. or more 1., 4-6 in. br., pinnl. close, 

 lanceolate, cut down nearly to the rhachis into oblong crenated lobes ; invol. 

 ^ — ^ lin. br. ;" and the concluding remark, under N. F.-mas^ in which is 

 included iV^. elongatum, as var. 7 is' — " The extremes as described differ widely, 

 but we cannot draw any clear line between them. A. Schimperianum, canariense^ 

 Zudomiamm, and marginatvm., none of them seem clearly separable from 7 

 which might be looked for in group 7," Group 7, when we come to it ten pages 

 further on in the ' Synopsis' contains ^8 species with fronds ample, more than 

 1| — 2 ft. 1., 1. ft. br., decompound. 



Had the description of N. elongatum. given in the ' Synopsis ' been simply 

 of the Macaronesian plant, as figured in Hooker and Greville's Icones Pilicum, 

 the suggestion that the fern mighu be looked for in group 7 of nephrodium 

 could hardly have been made. The figure is of the Madeira fern, as gathered 



