Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 51 



and pinnatifid, the other pinme stalked, pinnate or only pinnatifid, 

 gradually decreasing and less compound upwards, but the lowest 

 pinnule on the lower side almost always enlarged, pinnules 

 petioled or sessile, oblong from a broad equal base, more or less 

 pinnatifid, with the lobes obtuse, sometimes apiculate towards the 

 apex, but never aristate ; texture very coriaceous, both surfaces 

 naked ; sori apical or nearly so on the veins, in two rows nearer 

 the margin than the midrib ; involucre reniform or peltate. 

 Syn. Fil. p. 254. Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. tab. ccxxvi. coriacea. Hope, 

 Jour. Bot. 1890. 



Kopili Hot Springs, N. Cachar, 1,000 feet alt. (G. Mann!) 

 This can at once be distinguished from affinis to which it is allied 

 by the equal base of the pinnules and by the rounded, not aristate 

 lobes, the scales also differ, and it is much more coriaceous, the 

 fertile fronds are sometimes considerably contracted. It is like 

 aristata and affinis very variable. The Indian specimens are 

 rather more coriaceous andless cut than those from China and Japan. 



(Also in China and Japan.) 



8. Lastrea gracilescens. Type — Rootstock thick, hori- 

 zontal, creeping ; stipes approximate. 



Yar. glanduligera. (Kunze.) Rootstock thin, wiry, wide- 

 creeping ; stipes distant, slender. 



Var. decipiexs. {Clarke.) Rootstock short, creeping ; stipes 

 approximate ; fronds deltoid, shorter than in type or glanduligera, 

 pinna: rather broader. 



In all three varieties the veins are nearly all simple, though 

 here and there forked veins occur in all ; the sori are almost 

 always apical on the veins, or nearly so, though in one Khasian 

 (from Sururcen) and in some Japan examples of the type they 

 are occasionally medial ; the involucre is small, generally glabrous, 

 though sometimes hairy ; the lamina is always glabrous, though 

 the co-la-, arc more of less hairy. I cannot distinguish glandu- 

 ligera from the type except by the rootstock, and Clarke's 



