358 



Ferns of British India and Ceylotst. 



gradually narrowed at the base, acute or blunt at the apex, carnose- 

 coriaceous, very glabrous; venation immersed (visible in a dried state), 

 main veins fine but distinct to the margin, areoles copious, including 

 smaller areoles, in which are free simple or forked veinlets, with 

 clavate apices ; sori compital, very small and scattered very irregularly, 

 generally only on the upper half of the frond. Linn. Sp. PL 1524. 

 Sw. in Schr.Jour. 1800, ii. 21. Pleopeltis irioides, Hook. Syn. Fil. 

 360. Bedd. F. S. I. t. 178. Wall. Cat. 281, glabrum, and 273, 

 polycephalum. 



South India, Western mountains up 



to about 3,000 feet elevation ; Ceylon ; 



North India, in the Bengal plains, and 



up to 3,000 feet elevation ; Malay 



Peninsula. 



(Also in China, Malay Islands, North 



Australia, Polynesia, Southern and Central 



Africa and the islands. 



19. Pleopeltis mus^efolia. (£1.) 



In every way like punctata, so that the 



same description will do for both, except 



that the texture in this is, like that of ni- 



grescens and hemionitidea, thin and 



papery, with the veins very prominent, 



N?20l. whilst punctata has fleshy leaves, in tex- 



pleopeltis punctata. t ure like Thamnopteris Nidus. Bl. Fil. 



(Zm,) Jav. p. 171, /. 79. Hook. Syn. Fil. 360. 



Bedd. F. B. I. t. 317. 



Malacca. 



(Also in the Malay Islands.) 



20. Pleopeltis hemionitidea. ( Wall) Rhizome creeping, 

 scaly, furnished with wiry scaly fibrous roots ; stipes scaly, winged 

 upwards; fronds 6 inches to if foot long, 1-2 inches broad, mem- 

 branaceous subchartaceous, subtransparent very dark shining green, 

 broad lanceolate, gradually acuminated into a fine point at the apex 



