240 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



the midrib ; segments broad, short, obtuse, lower pinnae much de- 

 flexed and gradually shorter ; texture moderately firm, surfaces naked, 

 bright green ; veinlets distant, simple, about 4 on each side ; sori 

 small marginal; indusium small fugacious. Hook. Syn. Fil. 497. 

 Bedd. Fern. Sup. t. 376. 



Sikkim (Elwes, only once collected, and a single frond without 

 stipe.) 



16. Lastrea ochthodes. {Kze.) Caudex erect, stipes tufted, 

 1-2 feet long, firm, naked or nearly so; fronds 2-4 feet long, 8-12 

 inches broad ; pinnae |-i inch broad, cut down nearly to the rachis 

 into entire or bluntish, often falcate segments 1-1J lines broad, with 

 a prominent gland at the base beneath, the lower ones gradually 

 reduced ; texture subcoriaceous ; rachis and underside more or less 

 villous; veinlets prominent, simple 10-15 on a side; sori submar- 

 ginal. Aspidium octhodes, Kze. in Linncea, xxiv. 282. Bedd. 

 F. S. I. t. 106. Nephrodium prolixum, Baker, Syn. Fil. 268. 



Northern India, throughout the Himalayas and Khasya Moun- 

 tains ; South India and Ceylon, throughout the mountain forests; 

 Malay Peninsula. 



Var. /3 tylodes. {Kze.) More coriaceous, rachis and under- 

 side glabrous, lower pinnae not gradually reduced, but suddenly 

 abortive and reduced to tuberculated glands, sori at the base of the 

 veins, close to the costules. Bedd. F. S. I. t. 107. 



South India mountains, rare, and probably the same localities as 

 ochthodes ; it is, I believe, quite entitled to rank as a species. 

 I have had both in cultivation for many years, and Mr. Thwaites, 

 who cultivated them in Ceylon, considered them distinct species. 



17. Lastrea Fairbankii. {Bedd.) Caudex long creeping, as 

 thick as a crow quill, very black, glabrous, but furnished with a few 

 scales, copiously rooting, stipes 8-20 inches long stramineous, black 

 at the base, rachis channelled above, glabrous or slightly pubescent 

 with weak glandular hairs ; fronds coriaceous 6-10 inches or more 

 long, narrow oblong pinnated, pinnae opposite or alternate, sessile or 

 nearly so, i-ii inches long, less than \ inch broad, linear obtuse or 

 acuminate at the apex, pinnatifid nearly to the rachis, the lower ones 



