21 
during the dry season. The ferns that grow 
here are, for the most part, green only in the 
monsoons, drying up to the level of. their 
rhizomes after the heavy rains are over. In 
this dormant state they await the next wet 
season when they again send out fresh foliage. 
Others again roll up their fronds after the rains 
and so resist the dry season. 
But from Mahableshwar southwards the 
rainfall is heaviest and the moist ever-green 
forests predominate. Here the shade, shelter, 
and abundance of moisture together with an: 
equable temperature and suitable soil have given. 
rise toa luxuriant fern vegetation. Here it is 
that one sees along the mossy banks of the 
streams the gigantic tree ferns. Here in the mois- 
ture-laden atmosphere are to be found the tiny. 
filmy ferns. In whichever direction the eye 
gazes it meets with ferns—ferns in great profu- 
sion, ferns in great variety, ferns in the rich 
humus, ferns on the damp rocks, ferns on the 
trunks of trees—in short, ferns at every point of* 
vantage. 
On the plateau of the Deccan, which receives 
less rain than the Konkan and the Ghats and 
which has a varied vegetation consisting of arid 
wastes, grassy expanses, areasof deciduous: 
