Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 277 



anastomosing, the upper ones free, rachis pubescent, upper surface 

 glabrous in age, under surface more or less hairy on all the veins 

 sori solitary near the middle of the 3-4 lower veins, indusium small 

 reniform. Desv. Mem. Soc. Li?in. xi.p. 253. Hook. Syn. Fil. 292. 

 Bedd. F. S. I. t. 87. Neph. falcilobum, var. pubera, Clarke, F. N. I. 

 p. 515. Wall. Cat. 338, Asp. puberulum. 



South India, Western forests, 2,000-4,000 feet, in beds of rivers ; 

 Ceylon, central provinces. 



(Also in the Mascarene Islands.) 



14. Nephrodium pennigerum. (Bl.) Caudex erect; stipes 

 villous or subglabrous up to about 1 foot long ; fronds large up to 

 4 feet long, pinnate, generally with the lower pinnae more or less 

 reduced, sometimes not so ; pinna? numerous, spreading 8-10 inches 

 long, i-ii inch broad (the fertile sometimes much contracted), apex 

 acuminate, margin cut down only about i towards the rachis 

 into oblong falcate lobes ; texture herbaceous, rachis villous, upper 

 surface strigose on the main costa, otherwise glabrous or often more 

 or less strigose particularly near the margins, under surface villous 

 on the veins ; veins 8-12 pair, the 5-6 lower ones generally, rarely 

 only 3, anastomosing ; sori medial on the veins ; involucre reniform, 

 generally persistent Aspid. pennigerum, Bl. Fn. PI. Jav. Fil. 153. 

 Hook. Syn. Fil. 292. Neph. abruptum, Bedd. F. S. I. t. 86. Asp. 

 multilineatum, Wall. Cat. 353. Neph. glandulosum, var. laete- 

 strigosa, Clarke, F. N. I. p. 532. Neph. pennigerum var. multilineata, 

 Clarke. I. c. p. 532. Neph. abortivum (J?, Sm.), Hook. Syn. Fil. p. 292. 



South India, common in all the Western mountain forests; 

 Ceylon, central provinces, 2,000-4,000 feet ; East Bengal, from Mish- 

 mee to Chittagong, at no great elevation. (Clarke's specimens of 

 glandulosum var. locte-strigosa and pennigerum var. multilineata are 

 quite the same as the South Indian plant.) Malay Peninsula. 



(Also in the Malay Islands and Tropical Africa.) 



15. Nephrodium molle. (Desv.) Rhizome tufted, or more 

 rarely creeping ; stipe and main rachis beneath pubescent, shortly 



