Ferns of British India and Ceylo>^\ 
7iot the Madagascar f>Ia?it of ScJileclit. Athyrium pectinatum, Bedd. 
F. S. I. t 155 {iiot Wall) Athy. nigripes, Bedd. K S. I. t. 157. 
Madras Presidency, Western Mountains, Nilgiris, common at 
6,000-8,000 feet. Pulneys, Tinnevelly Mountains ; Ceylon at 
Newera Elya, and Maturatte, &c. 
9. Athyrium gymnogrammoides. (A7.) Fronds large, 5-6 
feet long, bi-tripinnate, primary pinnae 12-16 inches long, oblong- 
lanceolate, secondary pinnae up to 4I inches long, by li inch broad, 
either deeply pinnatifid to a winged rachis, or pinnate, the wing being 
obsolete ; ultimate segment oblong, lobed one-third of the way down ; 
sori near the midrib. Metf. AspL p. 193, /. 6,/> 13-14. Bedd. 
F. S. I. t 156. Thw. Fn. PL Zey. p. z^^. 
Ceylon, central provinces 5,000-6,000 feet, nearly ahied to 
selenopteris. Mr. Baker includes this under nigripes, but it is not 
very near the Himalayan plant. 
Var. /3 ERYTHRORACHis. {Bedd.) The naked stipes and 
rachis deeply channelled^ bright purple ; fronds deltoid, much 
smaller than the type, 6-10 inches long, without the stipe, lowest 
pinnae 3-4 inches long, the partial rachis channelled and vfinged 
on the upper side, the pinnules petiolate, f inch long, auricled at 
the superior base and somewhat pinnatifid at the inferior base, 
crenate or subentire above, veins pinnate and forked terminating 
within the margin ; sori asplenioid (never double), a few more or 
less curved. Bedd. Sup. Ferns, p. 12. Athy. nigripes, Thw. En. 
Fl. Zey. p. 3S4. 
Ceylon, about Newera Elya. 
This is probably a distinct species, it is included in the Kew 
bundle of nigripes, but is nearer to the Nilgiri selenopteris, some 
specimens of which are also in the Kew packet of nigripes, whilst 
others exactly similar are placed with the South African aspidioides. 
Mr. Thwaites has also referred it to nigripes, but he may not have 
seen the Himalayan plant. 
10. Athyrium Filix-fcemina. {Bernh.) Fronds 1-4 feet, lan- 
ceolate, narrowed at both ends, membranaceous, green, bi-pinnate ; 
