240 JOURNAL, BOMBA 7 NA TDRAL HISTORY SOCIETY , Vol. XIV. 
little diminished in length, diminution thence gradual to apex ; rhachises straw- 
coloured, or pale-brown, or pale-green, more or less clothed with pale-coloured 
linear scales and fibrils, but sometimes glabrous ; frond plumose in appearance. 
Pinna ascendant, 16-30 pairs beside? the deeply-pinnatified apex, distant near 
base of frond, lowest 5-9 £ in. 1. by 2-4 J in. br. Pinnules 12-20 pail’s, on the 
lower pinnae much longest on the lower side, longest towards the middle and 
then up to 2J in. L, none £ in. br., and all distant, falcate ; oblong for two- 
thirds of their length, and then acuminate, cut down to a winged rhachis into 
10-15 segments ; segments in large fronds lobed on both sides, and lobes toothed. 
Texture herbaceous. Colour pale-green, but drying sometimes pale-brown. 
Veins pinnate in segments, and forked in larger lobes. Sori generally absent in 
lowest two or three pairs of pinnre, but extending sometimes almost to the apices 
of fronds and pinnae, up to six in lowest lobes, medial. Involucres thick 
moderate-sized, persistent, brown ; sporangia pale-green when young/’ — 
Plate XXXII. 
Afghan. : Peiwar Kotal 8000', the late Sir Henry Collett 1879 ; AitcJi. 9000, 
No. 266, 1880 (named N. rigidum , var . pallida'). 
Trans-Ind. States : with the Chitral Relief Expedition— 72-10,000', Dr. Harris, 
Sir Wm. Gatacre. 
Kashmir, W.— -4-10,000', Trotter 1888, MacLeod 1891, McDonell 1891 and 1894, 
Dutbie 1892-93. 
Punjab : Hazara Dist.— U The Gallies,” Mrs. Queripel 1882 ; Kagan Valley Inayat 
(Sahar. Herb. Cullr.) 1896-7-9 ; between Abbotabad and Murree 7-8600', frequent, 
Trotter 1888-89 and 1892 ; Simla Reg 8-9000', Blanf. 1882-84, Hope 1886, Bliss 1891. 
N.-W. P. : D. D. Di^.—Jaunsar 8000', Gamble 1892-96-98 ; T. Garh. 8-9000', 
Duthie 1883. 
The characteristic features of this fern are — the broad frond, hardly ever 
reduced at the base : the very long, broad and distant pinnae : the very long 
and narrow pinnules : the pale* green colour of the frond, and the almost 
invariably pale colour of the scales. The distribution seems to be confined to 
the Western Himalaya and the mountains immediately to the westward of 
British India. In colour it is similar to the much less compound N. pallidum 
of Bory, a native of South-Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Some speci- 
mens of N. ramosum approach N. odontoloma , and others N. marginatum , 
Wall., which varies a good deal. But N. odontoloma never is broadest at base 
as N. ramosum is almost invariably. Perhaps the nearest congener of this 
species is N. Blanfordii y Hope, No. 18 above described, a fern with a more 
limited range ; but that species is Dever so compound in cutting, and it always 
has a short stipes, and dark-coloured scales. 
22. N. marginatum, Wall, (under Aspidium), Cat. 391, mainly, 
but not the type sheet; 0. R. 521, t. 71 ; Aspidium marginatum (not clearly 
separable from) * , N. elmgatum , Hk. & Grev., Syn. Fil. 272. Lastrea Filix - 
