746 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol.XlY. 



28. N. aridum, Baker ; 8yn. Fil. 231 ; 0. R. 531. Nephrodiumaridum, 

 Don (undev Aspidium\ Bedd. H. B. 272. Aspidium vmvlosum, "Wall. Cat. 

 352, A. smbridum, Wall. Cat. 302. 



Punjab : C^awiJa— McDonell ; KuUu—'Up-peT Beas Valley 5-6000', Trotter 1887 ; 

 Simla Reg. — Bashahi", Lace. 



N,-W. P. : D. D. Diit. — Khurrak, Edgew. — Very common in the Diin, in 

 ditches and by sides of streams, 1500'— 3000' ; Eumaun—^^rja Valley 3500', S. & W,, 

 Davidson ; near Asljot 4-5000', Duthie ; Takula 4500', MacLeod. Ow<^7^— Philibhit, 

 Keri and Baraitch Dists., Dutbie 1898. 



DiSTElB. — Atia : N. India — " Throughout the Bengal Plain, abundant ; from the 

 Soonderbun (Sundriban) to Assam and the Dehra Dun, ascending the hills to 3000'. 

 Throughout India and Ceylon." QClar'ke's Kev.). Bhotan, Nuttall, Manipur 1500', 

 Clarke 1885. Not in S. India or Ceylon (^et?^. in H. B.). Malay Peninsula, Perak 

 and Singapur. N. Australia (^Clarke in Kev.) 



This is one of the commonest ferns in the Dehra Diiu, where there is water ; 

 it is quite a hedgerow plant, if there is a wet ditch adjoining. Its name must 

 have been given to it on account of the dry appearance and texture of the fronds 

 when mature ; while growing they are succulent. The rhizome is creeping. I 

 would amend Beddome's description thus : — 



" Rhizome GveeT^ing ; stipes 1 ft. or less long, erect, slightly pubescent ; 

 fronds 2-12 ft. I., 12-15 in. br. ; pintim increasingly distant until below 

 they are 4-6 in. apart, and rapidly diminishing to mere auricles, 

 6-9 in. 1., |-1 in. br., cat about ^rd of the way down into 

 subtriangular sharp-pointed lobes, in the baiTen fronds, at least, 

 aurioled at base above ; the lowest lobes of the pinnse sometimes much 

 the smallest, sometimes much the largest, in which latter case the vein- 

 lets may be found forked, and anastomosing iu the lobe ; texture coriaceous 

 glandular below; rhachis and lower surface hairy; veinlets 8-10 on a 

 side, 5-6 pairs joined with those of the adjacent pinnules ; veins in 

 green frond transparent, in dry frond opaque ; sm in rows, 1 or 1 

 pair at junction of lowest pair of veins, — the rest nearly medial." 

 Colonel Beddome's new species, N. paptjraceum, Suppt. H. B., p. 69, is, 

 1 feel sure, non-existent, so far at least as N.-W. India is concerned. His 

 locality — " Kullu, Upper Biso Valley, Trotter " — must be a misprint for 

 " Upper Bias (or Beas) Valley. I have a young sterile frond from Trotter 

 ■ collected in Kullu — Upper Bias Valley 5-6000', noted above, and it is 

 N. aridum, pure and simple. It has no such venation in the lowest segments 

 of the pinnas as Beddome speaks of ; but on looking at other specimens I find 

 that is a character of N. andum, as long ago I observed it is of N. mole. I 

 now understand that Col. Beddome gives up the Kullu station for N. papy- 

 rcmum. admitting that his specimen is N. aridum. 

 29. N. molle, Desv. ; Syn. Fil. 293 ; Bedd. H. B. -277. iV. parasiti- 



