THE FERNS OF NORTH- WESTERS INDIA. 
181 
deux plantes, etje suis dispose de voir dans cette derniere une sou^espec borealo 
de la premiere 
Colonel Bedd< me lately examined along with me all the n aterial 
available in Kew, including specimens Mr. Gamble had lent me, and he c me 
to the same conclusion as before, namely, that Diplazium trottert 
A. squamigerum) is certainly A. crenatum— the Kashmir plant being inter- 
mediate. The Kew bundle of Dipl, squamigerum he considers to be a 
mixture ; one specimen being “ certainly typioal A. crenatum (tripinnate), 
but one from Japan, with very large prominent indusias may be quite a dif- 
ferent thing. ” I think Colonel Beddome is mistaken in styling any of the 
forms — whether crenatum , trotteri , or squamigerum as tripinnate. No speci- 
men I have seen is so : the utmost development is that the lowest pinnm are 
cut down, at. the base, nearly to the secondary rhachis — one cannot even say 
to a winged rhachis. One Norwegian specimen of A. crenatum in Kew bas 
sori longer th-° a they usually appear, and some diplapid ; but, as most of the 
specimens a a fuJy ripe, the involucres are generally obscured. 
Since tl j above was re-written, I have again gone over the material, and 
while I otill think all the Himalayan material must be identified as A. squa - 
miger m , I now consider it possible that in spreading westward to Norway 
the Japanese plant has lost in length of sori, and become A. crenatum . 
38. A. multicaudatum, Wall, Cat. 2«29. A. ( Athyrium ) mbrostim 
J. Sm., var. 2. multicaudatum , Wall. (D. Jerdmi , Bedd. F. B. 1 ., t. 327), 
Himalayas, Syn. Fil. 489. A. multicaudatum , Wall. Cat. 229, C R . 502. 
Diplazium umbrosum , J. Smith under Athyrium , var. multicaudatum , Wall, 
Bedd. H B. 190. 
Punjab : Chamba — McDonell On list of Cbarnba ferns identified at Kew) ; Simla 
Ileg .— below Simla {fide Dr. King and Mr. Clarke), Blanf. in “List 1 '; Sirmm* 
State 1832, in Herb. Hort. Calcutta. 
N.-W P. ; D. D. Dist . — Near Mussooree, Dr. G. King 1860 ; 4-50J0', Hcrsehel 
1879 ; Sowarna Nala 4-5000', Mackinnons 1878-79, P. W Mackinnon and Hope 1881 ; 
“ Mossy Palls 11 5000', Hope 1885 and 87 and 1895 ; Kumaun — A. O. Hume j Kali 
Valley 2-3000', Duthie 1884. 
Distrib. — Asia : N. Ind. (Him.) Nepal, Wallich , Sikkim and Bhotan j Assam — 
Khasia 1-5000' ; Chittagong (in the plains of Bengal) 20“' — 2000', Clarke. 
I do not remember having seen McDonell’s specimens from Chamba, but I 
believe his list to be generally correct. At Mussooree A. multicaudatum grows 
in beds, and fertile fronds are comparatively rare, and ofteu sparsely soriferous : 
the creeping rhizome provides for the perpetuation of the species in each loca- 
lity None of Gamble’s specimens from Sikkim seem quite the same as the 
Mussooree plant and some seem considerably different, having longer sori, 
with narrow persistent involucres. On the Mussooree plant it is difficult to 
find involucres, at least on mature fronds ; but I can make out that many sori 
