32 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY , Vol. A 7. 
Many years ago I separated, from among Nephr odium F. mas , van 
pcirallelogrammum , Kze. in Linnma, Hook, in the collection of the Messrs. 
Mackinnon, several specimens as differing in cutting and venation. And more 
recently I observed in Mr. Gamble’s collection, in the N. hirtipes wrapper, the 
specimens above enumerated from Darjeeling, Bhotan, and Shillong, the two 
latter sets having been marked by Mr. Clarke Lastrea hirtipes. On the ticket 
of No. 7075 Mr. Gamble had written — “This seems to be placed by Clarke 
together with what we have usually considered true 4 hirtipes ’ (see my No. 
7154), but the two ferns are quite distinct in locality and habit. No one 
gathering them together in Darjeeling could say they were the same !” When I 
told him I agreed as to this specific difference, and that I proposed to describe 
the plant as a new species, Mr. Gamble gave me this specimen. Except that the 
frond and pinnae are narrower, and that the scales on it are paler, I cannot see 
that the North-West Indian plant is different. The venation is like that of 
N. hirtipes , but with perhaps more veinlets in a group. I have not seen either 
plant growing ; but even without the support of Mr. Gamble, who has gathered 
both, I should have no hesitation in describing the present as a new species, 
distinct from N. hirtipes — the principal points of difference being (1 ) the 
stouter stipes and rhachis ; (2) the more numerous and narrower pinnae — the 
lower ones deflexed ; and (3) the fewer sori. The free portion of a segment 
resembles in outline the head of a bird with a small beak. 
I observed some specimens of N. Gamblei in the Calcutta Herbarium, but 
had not time to note particulars of them. In Mr. Levinge’s collection in the 
Dublin Museum I have lately seen a very fine specimen of this fern, named 
hirtipes, which I noted as having a thick stipe 19^ in. 1. with a frond 
28 in. 1. by 13 in. br. below the middle, and almost 12 in. at the base 
measured along the deflexed pinnae. There are about 35 pairs of pinnae, besides 
the abruptly narrowed apex. The texture is coriaceous. And in the Edinburgh 
Herbarium — which has lately been greatly enriched by the acquisition of the 
late Colonel F. Henderson’s collection of ferns — I found a still larger, though 
imperfect, frond which must have been 3 ft. in length, besides the incomplete 
stipes which is 22 inches. This is the Bhotan specimen cited above, and Mr. 
Gamble’s ticket bears — <4 Nephrodium hirtipes , Hook., ex C. B. Clarke, but in 
my opinion a different species.” With this specimen, which is unmounted, is a 
loose slip, in Mr. Levinge’s writing, as follows : — “ We always called this fern 
L. cuspidata here ; but it clearly is not. It differs from the typical L. hirtipes 
considerably, especially in habit, growing in great tufts like L. patentissima. I 
think it should be considered a variety (initialed) H. C. L. 14-11-80.” 
Another slip in Colonel Henderson’s writing bears 4< These specimens are 
