1 7$ Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



Madras Presidency, throughout the Western forests up to 

 4,500 feet. Ceylon, central provinces ; Malay Peninsula. 

 (Also in Mauritius, Fernando Po, Java, and Borneo.) 



Var. j3 Prescottianum. ( Wall.) Pinnae narrower than the 

 type, more deeply serrated or cut, and more or less lobed towards 

 the base. Wall. Cat. 235. Hook. Sp. Fil. iii. 251. Bedd. F. B. I. 

 I. 243. 



Singapore and Penang (perhaps a distinct species). 



8. Diplazium speciosum. (Melt.) Stipes tufted, 1 foot or 

 more long, firm, erect, straw-coloured or brownish, nearly naked ; 

 fronds 1-2 feet long, 8-12 inches broad, with 10-20 pairs of pinna? 

 below the pinnatifid apex, the lower ones often stalked, 4-6 inches 

 long, about f inch broad, the apex much acuminated, the edge lobed, 

 the lobes reaching down half to two-thirds of the way to the rachis, 

 generally falcate acute, obscurely crenate ; texture herbaceous but 

 firm 5 rachis erect, naked ; veins pinnate in the lobes ; sori slender, 

 reaching nearly to the edge ; rachis 4-sided with sharp angles. A. 

 acuminatum, Wall. Mett. {non H. and A.). Hook. Syn. Fil. p. 235. 

 Bedd. F. B. I. t. 290. 



The Malay Peninsula ; Tinnevelly Mountains. Mr. Clarke 

 considers it a form of sylvaticum. 



9. Diplazium pinnatifido-pinnatum. {Hook?) Stipes 6-12 

 inches long, firm, erect, naked; fronds 9-12 inches long, 6-9 inches 

 broad, pinnate, with a pinnatifid apex ; pinnae 3-4 only on each side, 

 3-4 inches long, 1 inch broad, the apex acute, the margin sharply 

 serrated; base cmeate; texture coriaceous, drying a dull blackish 

 colour ; veins obscure, pinnate ; sori irregular, beginning at midrib, 

 not reaching the margin. Hook. Syn. Fil. 231. Bedd. F. B. L 

 t. 244. 



Mishmee ; Mr. Clarke has united it with the Philippine Lobbi- 

 anum, of which there is only one authentic specimen at Kew, and 

 though this does not represent the whole frond, it has numerous 

 pinnae of a lighter colour and more prominent venation ; it appears 

 to me to be quite a different plant. 



