NEW MANIPUR FERNS COLLECTED BY DR. WATT. 235 



in Sikkim, which show perfect involucres, they are nearly all per- 

 fectly reniform, though some few are polystichoid ; its position 

 therefore is near coniifolia and aristata in my first section of 

 Lastrea, in which the involucres are sometimes reniform (lastreoid) 

 and sometimes peltate (polystichoid). On a careful examination 

 under a powerful lens of Mr. Clarke's specimens, which were 

 collected at Buckeen, in Sikkim, at 7500 ft. elevation, I find that 

 the involucres, though in appearance much resembling Diacalpe, 

 are superior, like a little convex scale, round or oblong, easily 

 removed, leaving the spore-cases on the surface of the frond ; in 

 Diacalpe the involucres are easily detached as a complete little ball 

 with a short point of attachment underneath, and containing all 

 the spore-cases inside. I consider Mr. Clarke's specimens as 

 abnormal in their involucres, which are certainly not those of 

 Diacalpe, nor are they polystichoid; they resemble, I think, those 

 of Cystopteris more than any other genus. Mr. Clarke's specimens 



-. • ,» i » H •jlxl * • t • r • ^.£ 



Hooker. 



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Polypodium (Phegopteris) manipurense, n. sp. — Rhizome ? 

 Stipes 9-12 in. long, furnished with numerous large golden-brown 

 broadly lanceolate acuminated scales; fronds 12-16 in. long, 

 deltoid-ovate, tripinnate, with the tertiary pinnte pinnatifid ; 

 rachises furnished with ferrugineous curled many-jointed hair-like 

 scales, the main one somewhat flexuose, the lower pinnae the largest 

 6-8 in. long, ascending ; secondary pinnae 1-2 in. long ; tertiary 

 pinnae about ^ in. long from a broad sessile base pinnatifid nearly 

 half-way down ; texture herbaceous, both sides furnished with hair- 

 like scales, similar to those on the rachises ; sori small, 1-2 (rarely 

 more) to each ultimate segment or lobe of the tertiary pinna, 

 medial, apical or nearly apical on the lower veinlets. — Sirohifurar, 

 6000-7000 ft. elevation, Dr. Watt, No. 6423. 



No indusium is to be traced in any of my specimens, so I have 

 placed this fern in Phegopteris, and its position is next to riujulosiun ; 

 should it prove to be a Lastrea, which is very probable, it will stand 

 next to scabrosa, which it somewhat resembles, only it has not the 

 enlarged pinnules on the lower side of the lower pinnae, so charac- 

 teristic of that species. 



Polypodium (Gonophlebium) niponicum var. Watth. — Khizome 

 wide-creeping, brittle, glaucous, naked or nearly so. Stipes 3-6 in. 

 long, hairy ; fronds softly hairy, 8-22 in. long by 2-4 in. broad, 

 pinnatifid to within £ in. of the rachis; segments ciliated, 20-26 

 pairs, entire or obscurely crenate, oblong from a broad base, blunt 

 at the apex, lowest pair deflexed and slightly reduced : areola; in a 

 single series ; sori in a single row, nearer the midrib than the 

 margin.— Koupra, 4000-6000 ft. elevation, Dr. Watt, No. 5858. 



Dr. Watt writes that it is a very beautiful fern, with delicate 

 green leaves, the glaucous rhizome creeping on trees, and often 

 suspended in the air. It is too closely allied to mpameum, 1 tliink, 

 to be considered more than a variety, the only differences being that, 

 its rhizomes are more glaucous and glabrous, and the mdumentmm 

 on the fronds less thick. 



