3§ Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



suberect ; stipes approximate j rachis with a gland at the axis of 

 the pinnae ; stipes and rachis often red ; fronds up to 3 feet 

 high ; primary pinnae 5-8 inches long, generally about i^- inch 

 broad, but varying from f to 3 inches ; lowest secondary pinnule on 

 the superior base of the pinnae, always more or less elongated, 

 and often double the size of the others ; lowest superior lobe of 

 the pinnule also elongated ; sori strictly athyrioid. Bedd. F. N. 

 I. pi. ccxcv. Wall. Cat. 339, first sheet in Linn. Herb, (the 

 second being Athyr. macrocarpum). Clarke pi. 62, fig. 1 

 (sphaeropteroides) a good figure of this plant, but scarcely 

 showing the enlarged lowest secondary pinnule at the superior 

 base of the pinnae which is most characteristic of this fern. This 

 must, I think, rank as a species, being nearer to macrocarpum 

 than to fimbriatum. 



Near Simla, on the Thibet road, at 8,000 feet alt. ; Dhuramsala, 

 10,000 feet alt. ; Sikkim, Darjiling, &c. One form gathered by 

 Jerdon has the lamina much more finely cut and the sori very 

 large, so as to entirely conceal the lamina ; it is a most beautiful 

 fern, but evidently only a variety, as I have also from Jerdon an 

 intermediate form, where the lamina is not so much reduced ; 

 the development of the lamina at the expense of the sori and 

 vice versa is very common with many ferns, but more particu- 

 larly with Athyrium. Jerdon's two forms, both represented also 

 in the Kew Herbarium, certainly run in the direction of macro- 

 carpum, but they are more cut, and the lowest superior secondary 

 pinnule is much more produced. 



2. Diplazium subserratum. Perak, 3,000 feet alt. {Pay,, 

 Scortechinii) 



4A. Diplazium larutense. (n. sp.) Rhizome erect ; stipe 

 about 1 foot long, firm, erect, naked ; fronds narrow, linear- 

 lanceolate, about 1 foot long by \\-2 inches broad, broadest at 

 the base, gradually tapering upwards ; pinnate, pinnatifid towards 

 the apex ; rachis deeply channelled above ; pinnae numerous 



