io6 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



i. Pteris longifolia. (Z.) Stipe 6-12 inches long, stout, 

 erect, pale, clothed more or less below with pale brown linear scales ; 

 fronds 1-2 feet long, 4-9 inches broad, oblong-lanceolate, attenuated 

 below ; pinnae sessile, 20-30 on each side, 3-6 inches long, •§— § inch 

 broad, linear, entire, truncate or cordate or slightly auricled at the 

 base ; texture subcoriaceous ; rachis naked or slightly scaly below or 

 throughout; both surfaces naked; veins close and fine, usually once- 

 branched ; indusium membranous, yellowish-brown. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1531. Hook, Syn. Fil. p. 153. Bedd. F. S. I. t. 33. 



Madras Presidency, in many localities ; throughout Bengal in 

 the plains and up to 5,000 feet; Ceylon; Birma. 



(Also widely distributed all round the world.) 



2. Pteris cretica. (L.) Stipes 6-12 inches long, erect, wiry, 

 naked, straw-coloured, polished; fronds 6-12 inches long, 4-8 inches 

 broad ; lateral pinna? usually in 2-6 opposite sessile pairs, of which 

 the upper one is sometimes a little decurrent, 3-6 inches long -J— f 

 inch broad, the sterile ones generally the broadest, spinulose-serrated, 

 the lowest or even 1-4 other pairs often cleft down nearly to the 

 base into 2-3 linear pinnules ; margins, where barren, spinulose- 

 serrate ; rachis and both surfaces naked ; texture coriaceous ; veins 

 fine, close, parallel or wide apart in the narrow-segmented forms, 

 simple or once-forked; involucre membranous. Linn. M 'ant. p. 130. 

 Hook. Syn. Fil. p. 154. Bedd. F. S. I. t. 39. 



Madras Presidency, very common from sea-level up to 8,000 feet; 

 Bengal Presidency, very general up to 9,000 feet ; Ceylon ; Birma. 



(Also widely distributed in Africa, Tropical America, South 

 Europe, and elsewhere.) 



Var. /3 heteromorpha. Pinnae abnormally pinnatifid. Pteris 

 heteromorpha, Hook. Syn. Fil. p. 156. Bedd. F B. I. t. 89. This 

 is, I think, only a variety of cretica, not a distinct species. 



Birma. 



(Also in the Philippine Islands.) 



3. Pteris pellucida. (Presl.) Stipes 1 foot or more long, 



