4 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



wing into close entire ligulate blunt segments, upper gradually 

 smaller, reflexed ; texture subcoriaceous, both surfaces glabrous, the 

 lower green or glaucous; veinlets once forked; sori medial, 12-20 

 to a segment. Bedd. F. B. I. t. 346. Hook. Sp. Fil. p. 449. 

 Malacca. 



4. Gleichenia linearis (Burm. under Polypodium). Stipes zigzag, 

 repeatedly di- or trichotomous, the ultimate branches bearing a pair 

 of forked pinnae ; a distinct pair of pinnae also arises from the base 

 of the forked branches, pinnules usually glaucous beneath, usually 

 entire with recurved margins, texture hard, veinlets usually three- 

 branched from the base, the centre one being often forked or 

 pinnate. Bedd. F. S. I. t. 74, as dichotoma. Gl. dichotoma, Willd. 

 Hiok. Sp. Fil. p. 15. Polypodium lineare, Btirm. Fil. Ind. 235, t. 67, 

 fig. 2, oldest specific name. This fern has long been known under 

 the name of dichotoma, which, however, must be dropped, as there 

 is an older specific name. 



Mountains of southern India and Ceylon, up to 6,000 feet, 

 Sikkim, Bhotan, Nepal, Kumaon, Khasya, &c, up to 5,000 feet. 

 Malay Peninsula. 



(Also in Japan, Tropical Australia, America, Polynesia.) 



SUB-ORDER II.— POLYPODIACE^. 



Sori dorsal or marginal, subglobose, of many capsules, with or 

 without an indusium, usually pedicellate, more or less completely 

 surrounded with a jointed vertical and elastic ring, and bursting 

 transversely (except in Hymenophylleae). 



A.- — -Involucraite. — Sori furnished with an indusium (except 

 in Alsophila), Tribes Cyatheae to Aspidieae. 



TRIBE I.-CYATHE^;. 



Sori dorsal, globose, often at or near the forking of a vein ; 

 capsules numerous, often very compact sessile or stalked, generally 

 on an elevated receptacle, often mixed with hairs, obovate usually 

 with a broad, vertical, or sub-oblique elastic ring ; indusium (none in 



