$ JOURNAL , BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY , FoZ. X7I. 
over a large surface of ground ; and it seems impossible that the 
same species of fern can ever have habits so widely differing as those 
I ha\e just described. I think I may challenge fern-fanciers to produde 
an instance of variation between such habits. It is, though there are 
others, mainly on this ground that Mr. E. W. Trotter and I have 
separated Polypodium ( Pheg .), late repens , Trotter MS., from P. distans , 
Don, which has an erect caudex, and that I am now proposing Neph- 
rodium ( Laslrea ) re pens as a new species, distinct from Aspidium 
ochthodes , Kze. (Nephrodium prolixum 1 Baker). 
Some pains have been taken to give the habitats of the species in 
regular order from West to East,* and in sufficient detail to show the 
distribution in India ; and the distribution in other parts of the world 
has been carefully arranged by continents, which is not always satisfac- 
torily done in th three works here followed and reviewed. And, except 
in the cases of the long recognised and common species, the authorities for 
the habitats or the names of collectors whose specimens have been seen 
and are known to have been gathered in the habitats named, have been 
quoted. I have not used the mark u ! ” ; but it must be understood that I 
have either seen the specimens on which I found, or have satisfied myself 
that my authority for their existence is trustworthy. This mark (!) is not 
used in the books I make reference to. As to the new or rarer species, 
the year of collection, in other cases the names of collectors — at least 
those of the more modern of them — are arranged, under the geo- 
graphical areas, in the order of date of collection. This much 
seems due to those who have done so much of late years, and have 
helped to make the present list so full ; and in many cases it is an 
acknowledgment of specimens given to myself. And such full citation 
seems to give authority which might otherwise be thought wanting. 
Such an entry as — “ Himalayas, ascending to 10,000 feet ’’—does not 
seem at all sufficient, or even useful. Taken literally, this would 
mean — “ throughout the Himalaya, from west to east, and at all alti- 
tudes from the plains up to 10,000 feet ” ; but in many such instances it 
turns out that the plant has been got only in the Eastern Himalaya, 
and not below (say) 5,000 feet. Again: “ Himalayas, from Garhwal to 
Bhotan,” not only involves the assumption that the plant grows from 
* The Hazsfra District of the Panjab lies to the westward of Kashmir, but is given 
along with the other districts of the Punjab for convenience sake. 
