8 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



from S. India in the Cyathea bundles at Kew, although there was 

 a specimen of it from Dalzell elsewhere, labelled " Lastrea also- 

 philoides," and a specimen from Canara, mixed with Hemitelea. 

 I find no 3-branched veinlets in my specimens ; but I have no 

 barren pinnae in which only they occur. Except in being much 

 more aculeate, over-ripe examples are with difficulty distinguished 

 from Alsophila latebrosa ; it is however perfectly glabrous on the 

 segments beneath, whereas in the Alsophila there is generally some 

 pubescence on the costules, and minute hairs on the veinlets. I 

 have never found this fern much above 3,000 feet elevation, but 

 the Alsophila is common at the highest altitudes on the Nilgiris, 

 Pulneys and Anamallays. 



GENUS III.— AMPHICOSMIA. {Fee.) 

 (Amphi, around ; kosmos, world ; in allusion to its wide distribution.) 



Sori globose, dorsal, on a veinlet ; receptacle elevated ; indusium 

 a cup-like scale below the sorus, but never completely covering 

 the capsules as in Cyathea. Arborescent ferns like Cyathea, and a 

 connecting link between that genus and Alsophila, very difficult to 

 determine except with unripe sori ; veins all free ; fronds ample 

 decompound. (Hemitelea only differs in having the costal veins 

 anastomosing. None are found in India.) 



1. Amphicosmia Walkers. (JFook.) Stipes unarmed or slightly 

 muricate ; fronds ample bi-tripinnate, thick, firm, very coriaceous ; 

 primary pinnae ii foot long, secondary pinnse rather remote, 3-4 

 inches long, deeply, nearly to the costa pinnatifid, or again pinnate, 

 oblong, narrow-acuminate ; the costa, as is the rachis, hairy above and 

 scaly below ; pinnules or lobes oblong, very obtuse, entire or crenate ; 

 veinlets once-forked, three-branched or even pinnate ; sori close to 

 the costules; indusium cup-shaped under the sorus. Hook. Sp. Fil. 

 p. 30. Bedd. F. S. I. tab. 261. 



Ceylon, centre of the island at the higher elevations. Var. ft tri- 

 pinnata has the ultimate pinnules lobed, but there are intermediate 

 forms. 



