8 
Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 
from S. India in the Cyathea bundles at Kew, although there was 
a specimen of it from Dalzell elsewhere, labelled " Lastrea also- 
philoides," and a specimen from Canara, mixed with Hemitelea. 
I find no 3-branched veinlets in my specimens ; but I have no 
barren pinnae in which only they occur. Except in being much 
more aculeate, over-ripe examples are with difficulty distinguished 
from Alsophila latebrosa ; it is however perfectly glabrous on the 
segments beneath, whereas in the Alsophila there is generally some 
pubescence on the costules, and minute hairs on the veinlets. I 
have never found this fern much above 3,000 feet elevation, but 
the Alsophila is common at the highest altitudes on the Nilgiris, 
Pulneys and Anamallays. 
GENUS III.— AMPHICOSMIA. {Fk.) 
[Amphi, around; kosnios, world; in allusion to its wide distribution.) 
Sori globose, dorsal, on a veinlet ; receptacle elevated ; indusium 
a cup-like scale below the sorus, but never completely covering 
the capsules as in Cyathea. Arborescent ferns like Cyathea, and a 
connecting link between that genus and Alsophila, very difficult to 
determine except with unripe sori ; veins all free ; fronds ample 
decompound. (Hemitelea only differs in having the costal veins 
anastomosing. None are found in India.) 
I. Amphicosmia Walkers. {Hook.) Stipes unarmed or slightly 
miiricate ; fronds ample bi-tripinnate, thick, firm, very coriaceous ; 
primary pinnae i\ foot long, secondary pinnae rather remote, 3-4 
inches long, deeply, nearly to the costa pinnatifid, or again pinnate, 
oblong, narrow-acuminate ; the costa, as is the rachis, hairy above and 
scaly below ; pinnules or lobes oblong, very obtuse, entire or crenate ; 
veinlets once-forked, three-branched or even pinnate ; sori close to 
the costules; indusium cup-shaped under the sorus. Hook. Sj>. Fil. 
p. 30. Bedd. F. S. I. tab. 261. 
Ceylon, centre of the island at the higher elevations. Var. ft fri- 
pinnata has the ultimate pinnules lobed, but there are intermediate 
forms. 
