240 Fkrns of British India and Cevlon. 
the midrib ; segments broad, short, obtuse, lower pinnae much de- 
flexed and gradually shorter ; texture moderately firm, surfaces naked, 
bright green ; veinlets distant, simple, about 4 on each side ; sori 
small marginal; indusium small fugacious. Hook. Syn. Fil. 497. 
Bedd. Fern. Sup. /. 376. 
Sikkim (Elwes, only once collected, and a single frond without 
stipe.) 
16. Lastrea ochthodes. {Kze) Caudex erect, stipes tufted, 
1-2 feet long, firm, naked or nearly so ; fronds 2-4 feet long, 8-12 
inches broad ; pinn^ |-i inch broad, cut down nearly to the rachis 
into entire or bluntish, often falcate segments i-i^ lines broad, with 
a prominent gland at the base beneath, the lower ones gradually 
reduced ; texture subcoriaceous ; rachis and underside more or less 
villous; veinlets prominent, simple 10-15 on a side; sori submar- 
ginal. Aspidium octhodes, Kze. in Linncea., xxiv. 282. Bedd. 
F. S. I. t. 106. Nephrodium prolixum, Baker^ Syn. Fil. 268. 
Northern India, throughout the Himalayas and Khasya Moun- 
tains ; South India and Ceylon, throughout the mountain forests; 
Malay Peninsula. 
Var. /3 TYLODES. {Kze.) More coriaceous, rachis and under- 
side glabrous, lower pinnae not gradually reduced, but suddenly 
abortive and reduced to tuberculated glands, sori at the base of the 
veins, close to the costules. Bedd. F S. I. t. 107. 
South India mountains, rare, and probably the same localities as 
ochthodes ; it is, I beUeve, quite entitled to rank as a species. 
I have had both in cultivation for many years, and Mr. Thwaites, 
who cultivated them in Ceylon, considered them distinct species. 
17. Lastrea Fairbankii. {Bedd.) Caudex long creeping, as 
thick as a crow quill, very black, glabrous, but furnished with a few 
scales, copiously rooting, stipes 8-20 inches long stramineous, black 
at the base, rachis channelled above, glabrous or slightly pubescent 
with weak glandular hairs ; fronds coriaceous 6-10 inches or more 
long, narrow oblong pinnated, pinnae opposite or alternate, sessile or 
nearly so, i-ii inches long, less than \ inch broad, linear obtuse or 
acuminate at the apex, pinnatifid nearly to the rachis, the lower ones 
