THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. 745 



N.-W, P. ; Z>. D. Dist.—BehTa, Dun E., Song R., above Lachiwala 18-1900', Hope 

 1886 : seen also eastward down to 1150' alt. ; Nala P^ni, near Dohra, " 23-9 70," in 

 Herb. Hort. Calc. ; Garkwal—G. King, 1868 ; Etimaun—R. B. 1827 ; A. 0, Hume, 

 in Herb. Hort. Calc: Kali Valley, 2-3000', Duthie 1884 ; Sarju Valley near Bageswar. 

 3-3600', Trotter 1891. 



DiSTRlB.— ^sia : N. Ind. (Him.), Sikkim oOO'-lOOO', common ; in the Terai 

 universal (Clarke in ' Review '') ; Assam-Kohima 5000', Clarke — as i\'. extensum^ in 

 Linn. Journ. XXV, 94. China, Henry ^ No. 1S079 : presented to Kew Herb, in 1900 

 and named there N. molle. 



Colonel Beddome has given up his N. microsmiim, and in his Supplement of 

 1892 has in its stead set up N. moUiusculum, Wall. Both Baker and Clarke say 

 that Wallioh's iV. moUiusculum is N. molle, alias N. parasiticum ; but on 

 turning up Wallich's specimen in the Linnean Society's Herbarium, I find that 

 Col. Beddome's new view is correct. Mr. Baker had, of course, been obliged 

 to rename the plant, because there was already a Nqihrodium (Lasirea) microsp- 

 rum, Hook., No. 69 in the ' Synopsis.' This re-christening has promoted 

 research. 



iV. moUiusculum^ though very rare in N.-W. India, seems — if Beddome's 

 reduction of Clarke's varieties of iV. extensum be correct — to be very abundant 

 in Sikkim and the ' Tarai' below it. Clarke says liis iw. microsora is common 

 in Sikkim, and that his var. late-repms is universal in the 'Tarai.'' [As this verna- 

 cular word had not, I think, appeared in this paper before it may be explained 

 that it means the second belt or zone of land below the Himalaya Range, — the 

 first, just at its feet, being the ' Bliabar' or steepish stratum of boulders and 

 gravel into which the off flow of the mountains sinks — to reappear in the flatter 

 * Tarai^ at a lower level.] Mr. Clarke says : — " This fern creeps in the sand 

 near streams where they debouch from the hills, covering acres, I might say 

 square miles, of country, as round Siliguri." Again, under N. procurrens. he 

 says — '' There are ferns, like N. extensum, var. late-repens, where a single 

 rhizome will cover a quarter of an acre." In the Dehra Dun, the station where 

 I first saw N. moUiusculum was below the high l3aui< of a river, in swampy 

 ground caused by water trickling out of the bank ; this was in forest, and 

 canes {Calamus sp.) were growing in the swamp, which prevented the rhizomes 

 being traced to any great extent. It was evidently a wrong time of year for 

 collecting the fern, and there were large beds of young sterile fronds, among 

 which were found a few larger and more developed fertile fronds of the previous 

 season. I think in July and August good fertile specimens would be got ; but 

 where a fern perpetuates itself so well from its rhizome it has small need for 

 producing sporangia. Asphnium multkaudatmn. Wall., is another case in point. 

 Dr. King's plant from Garhwal, noted above, seems this ; but the pinnas 

 dwindle to nothing at the base of the frond. In tbe Calcutta Herbarium there 

 is a remarkably fringed sport, from Assam, /S'm(?MS, 



