i66 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 
7. Athyrium nigripes. {Mett.) Caudex stout, often 2-3 
inches out of ground ; stipes tufted, firm, round, glabrous ; fronds 
8-30 inches long, quite deltoid, with the lowest pinnae largest, 
to oblong, lanceolate, herbaceous, not plicate-striate beneath ; pinnae 
about 8 inches long, by 2^ broad, (but variable in size) pinnules 
often deeply pinnatifid to only a winged rachis ; segments crenate 
or serrate, not spinulose ; sori linear-oblong, only slightly curved 
in two oblique rows towards the midrib of the pinna ; involucres 
persistent. Metf. Farng. Aspl. 195. Hook. Syn. Fil. 227, not 
Bedd. F. S. I. t. 157, which is selenopteris. 
Himalayas, from Kashmir to Bhotan, 3,000-11,000 feet eleva- 
tion, very common about Darjeeling ; Khasya 2,000-6,000 feet. 
Not in Southern India or Ceylon, the former plant being selenopteris, 
(Kunze), the latter gymnogrammoides. 
Var. /3 Clarkei. {Bedd.) Fronds linear-lanceolate, up to 
3 feet long, and 3-4, rarely 6 inches, broad, gradually narrowed 
at both ends, generally rooting from a bud on the upper side of the 
rachis ; rachis of pinnae, costa, and veins, sometimes furnished with a 
few weak setae. Athyrium Clarkei, Bedd. Sup. Ferns, t. 360. 
Nepal, Sikkim, common at Surail near Darjeeling, 6,000 feet ; 
Kulhoit Valley, 6,000-7,000 feet. I feel quite certain now that this 
is only an elongated variety of nigripes, and Mr. Clarke agrees. 
(Mr. Clarke's nigripes, var. dissecta, appears to be typical 
nigripes rather more cut than usual.) 
8. Athyrium SELENOPTERIS. {Kunze.) Caudex stout, erect; 
stipes tufted, often 10 inches long, stramineous; fronds 10-20 inches 
long, lanceolate, somewhat attenuated towards the base, never deltoid ; 
pinnae 2-6 inches long, rather distant; texture rather flaccid, pinnatifid 
to a winged rachis in the smaller forms, or almost quite pinnate in the 
larger forms, the wing of the rachis being almost obsolete, the pin- 
nules deeply pinnatifid, but with a somewhat decurrent base, the 
ultimate segments more or less crenated, or even serrated ; sori oblong 
or curved. Kunze, Mett. Farngatt. Asp. 196. Asp. nigripes, var. 
selenopteris, Clarke, F. N. I. p. 491. Athyrium aspidioides, Hook. 
Syn. Fit. p. 228. {in part) as far as the Nilgiri specimens are concerned, 
