294 H. F. Blar>ford— ^ List of tie Ferns of Simla. [No. 4, 



XI.— ^ List of the Ferns of Simla in the N. W. Himalaya between Levels 



of 4,500 and 10,500 Feet.— By H. F. Blanford, F. R. S. 



[Eeceived May 12th ;— Kead June 6th, 1888.] 



(With Plates XVI.— XXI.) 



In the course of my summer residence at Simla during the last ten, 

 and more particularly the last five, years, I have availed myself of such 

 opportunities as have offered to collect and examine the materials for a 

 list of the local ferns. The limits of my field of work have necessarily 

 been determined by considerations of ready accessibility, and do not 

 extend much below 4,500 feet on the one hand, nor above 10,500 feet on 

 the other. I have, indeed, sometimes visited lower slopes and valleys 

 both in the neighbourhood of Simla and in Chamba and the Jumna 

 valley, but my examination of these lower levels has been too imperfect 

 to admit of my attempting anything like so complete a list of their fern 

 flora as for the range of elevations between the limits above specified. 

 To the ferns occurring between 4,500 and 10,500 feet, therefore, this list 

 is restricted. 



In lateral extension, it takes cognizance of that portion of the Simla 

 ridge which extends from the south-western limits of the station to the 

 further side of Hatu, a distance by the Great Tibet Road of about 52 

 miles, but beyond the immediate neighbourhood of Simla my examina- 

 tion of the hill slopes has been restricted to levels above 8,000 feet. 



As is well known, Simla stands on that ridge of the Himalaya 

 which divides the drainage of the Sutlej from that of the Tonse and 

 Jumna, the former a tributary of the Indus, the latter, of the Ganges, 

 and is therefore a part of the main watershed of India. The outer hills, 

 between Simla and the plains, are for the most part bare of forest, and 

 the absence of shade and the dryness of the air which blows up from 

 the plains during many months of the year are eminently unfavourable 

 to plants so fond of coolness and moisture as the majority of the fern 

 tribe. East of Simla, in the direction of the mountains, forests were at 

 one time dense and vigorous, but for a distance of thirty miles most of 

 those on the Simla ridge have now been either destroyed and cleared, or 

 so far wasted and denuded of all their larger timber that, save where 

 protected of late years, they present little more than stretches of brush- 

 wood and small coppice. A few remnants, however, still exist at Masho- 

 bra and Mahalu ; and the northern faces and summits of Kumalhori and 

 Hatu are still covered with magnificent forests, which afford rich ground 

 for fern collectors and, indeed, botanists generally. 



In the glens and valleys below Simla, destruction has been equally 

 at work ; and there can be little doubt that, 20 or 30 years ao-o, the fern 



