84 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



Throughout India, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula, in the 

 plains and on lower slopes of the hills. 



(Also in South China, Tropical Africa, the Malay Islands, Java, 

 Mauritius, and Cape Verde Islands.) 



Var. /3 Edgeworthii. Pinna? and rachis glabrous; pinnae 

 less cut on the upper margin. Adiantum Edgeworthii. Hook. Sp. 

 Fil ii. 14. Bedd. F. B. I. t. 17. 



Nepal, Mooltan, Gurwhal. Perhaps a distinct species. 



Clarke refers this to ihizophorum Wall. Cat. 82, but that plant has 

 the rachis scabrous above, and is one of the forms of typical caudatum. 



Var. y soBOLiFERUM. Stipes petioles and rachis winged. 

 Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. 13. Bedd. F B. Lt. 19. 



Birma. 



4. Adiantum capillus veneris. (Z.) Stipes suberect, rather 

 slender, 4-9 inches long, polished, blackish, naked ; fronds bipinnate, 

 with a short terminal pinna and numerous erect-patent lateral ones 

 on each side, the lowest slightly branched again ; segments f-i inch 

 broad, the base cuneate, the outer edge rounded, deeply lobed from 

 the circumference in the direction of the centre, and the lobes again 

 bluntly crenated, lowest petioles \ inch long, texture pellucid-her- 

 baceous, thin ; rachis and both surfaces naked ; sori roundish or 

 obreniform, placed in the roundish sinuses of the crenations. 

 Hook. Syn. Fil. p. 123. Bedd. F S. I. t. 4. 



Madras Presidency, west side, common on banks of rivers in the 

 plains, and up to 5,000 feet on the mountains; Ceylon; North India, 

 in many localities. 



(Also in Europe, Africa, America, and Australia.) 



5. Adiantum ^ethiopicum (Z.) Stipe 6-9 inches long, rather 

 slender, erect, dark chestnut brown, polished, naked ; fronds up to 

 18 inches long, 6-9 inches broad, deltoid in outline, 3-4-pinnate ; 

 lower pinnules 3-4 inches long, 2-3 inches broad, deltoid ; ultimate 

 segments \-\ inch across, suborbicular, straight or subcuneate or 

 rounded at the base, the upper part broadly not deeply lobed ; tex- 

 ture thinly pellucid-herbaceous ; rachis and surfaces naked ; sori in 

 several roundish or transversely oblong patches in rounded hollows 



