432 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 
long, long-stalked, fructification often interrupted. Baker in Hook. 
Syn, Fil p. 523. Bedd. F. B. I. Sup. t. 389. 
Ceylon, southern provinces, Mooroowa, rocky ravines. 
4. Gymnopteris metallica. {Bedd.) Fronds quite sessile, 
3-7 inches long, up to nearly i inch broad, of a deep shining metallic; 
blue ; main veins not prominent and often not distinguishable from 
the others ; fertile fronds only soriferous towards the apex. Bedd. 
F. Sup. t. 390. 
Ceylon, Haycock Mountain near Galle, in dense forests on 
rocks, 2,000 feet elevation. 
5. Gymnopteris spicata. (Z. /.) Rhizome woody, short, 
creeping ; stipes 1-2 inches long, firm ; fronds 6-18 inches 
long, \-\ inch broad, the upper part for 4-6 inches, suddenly or 
gradually contracted and fertile, the edge entire^ the lower part 
narrowed very gradually, texture subcoriaceous, surfaces naked \ 
no distinct main veins, areoles uniform, hexagonal, with copious 
free, simple or forked veinlets ; sori mixed with peltate sporangiasters. 
Lin?i. Fil. Sup. 444, under Acrostichuni. Gymnopteris, Presl. Tent. 
Fter. 244, /.II. Acrostichuni, Hook. Syn. Fil. 424. Hymenolepis 
spicata, Bedd. F. S. I. t. 46. 
North India, Sikkim and Bhotan, 4,000-7,000 feet elevation, 
Khasya 3,000-7,000 feet ; South India, on the Western mountains ; 
Ceylon. 
(Hymenolepis has been proposed as a genus or subgenus for this 
species, as the fructification is on the contracted apex of the fronds, 
instead of being on a separate frond, the same peculiarity occurs 
constantly in other species, and I have similarly contracted fronds of 
G. variabilis var. lanceolata, which if separated from their rhizomes 
and other fronds could not be distinguished from this species, so I 
do not think the genus can hold good.) 
6. Gymnopteris quercifolia. Rhizome stout, creeping, 
scales linear, hair-pointed ; stipe of the barren frond 1-2 inches long, 
clothed with soft spreading ferruginous hairs ; barren frond 3-4 inches 
