406 



Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



South India, on the Western mountains, 2,000-5,000 feet eleva- 

 tion ; Ceylon, central provinces ; North India, from the plains up to 

 about 4,000 feet elevation ; Malay Peninsula, Birma, &c. 



(Also in the Malay Islands ; Queensland ; Polynesia ; Tropical 

 Africa, and Mauritius.) 



2. Vittaria sikkimensis. (Kuhn.) Rhizome very shortly creep- 

 ing, with slaty-rufous hair-pointed scales ; stipes densely tufted ; fronds 

 up to 4 inches long, but often very much shorter, ^ inch broad, 

 subobtuse ; midrib beneath obscure or slightly depressed ; sori sunk 



in a large extrorse marginal furrow. 

 Kuhn in Linncea xxxvi. 66. Clarke, 

 F. N. I. p. 574. V. minor var. minima, 

 Hook. Sp. Fil v. 183. Bedd. F. B. I. 

 t. 56 {not minor of Fee). 



Sikkim, 2,000-6,000 feet elevation, 

 common ; Khasya, Mowlong, 2,500 feet 

 elevation ; Tenasserim. 



The Tenasserim specimens are cer- 

 tainly the same as the Sikkim, and when 

 Mr. Clarke stated that the Moulmein 

 and Malay fern was distinct, he had in 

 his eye only the Malacca plant {i.e. fal- 

 cata or the next species). I have never 

 seen the Tenasserim plant more than 

 2 inches long, and the Sikkim plant is 

 also common in this small state, though other specimens are 4 inches 

 long, the soral groove is extrorse as in Vittaria elongata (not intra- 

 marginal as in the section Tseniopsis) and this plant can hardly be 

 said to differ from elongata except in its very small size, and is 



239. 



VITTARIA SIKKIMENSIS. 



(Kuhn. ) 



probably only a variety of it. 



3. Vittaria falcata. [Kunze.) Fronds 4-5 inches long, \ 

 inch broad, the apex blunt, the lower part narrowed gradually to the 

 base, texture leathery and very thick ; a distinct raised midrib 



