THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA 
279 
940,000^ Mackinnons, Dufchie ; Bambu Vy. 6000', Gamble; B. Oarh. Mrs. Fisher; 
Kumaun — near Kh&ti 7200'— 7800' (both forms) S. & W. ; near Naini T&l 45-6000', 
Hope, Konoor 7000', Davidson ; near Bugeswar 3500' ; Dhanknri 9000', Trotter : Sarju- 
ganga Vy, and elsewhere, 2-6000', MacLeod. 
Nepal, Wallicky Centr. Nepal, Scully . 
Distrlb.— Asia : N. Ind» Nepdl J* 2). Hooker ; Sikkim and Bhotdc ; 
Assam — RhaBia Diet. 1-5000'. common. Burma— Tenasserim. Ceyfon— 5-6000'. 
Malay Penins. and Isles. Tonkin, Phillipines. China— Shensi, Giraldi , Nau-T 
Henry ; Yunnan, Helavay , Hancock ; Shing-King Prov., between Mukden and 
Kirin, James. Japan, Polynesia. Afr. : E» & W. Tropical ; Kamerun Mfcs,, Fer- 
nando Po, St. Thomas . Madagascar. 
Bed dome describes two forms— pinnate and bipinnate ; but plants of a form 
between these two are frequent, i.e with perhaps only one pair of pinnm 
pinnate, and tfeat irregularly so ; and there is also a tripinnate fern, as Blanford 
pointed out. The simpler forms generally grow at low levels, and have large* 
broad, pinnae and the compound forms always at high altitudes, with small 
narrow pinnules. The number of pinnae varies greatly. 
Looking to the contrast which the low-level form— with stout stipes and rha- 
chis, and large, simple pinnae, or with only the lowest pair pinnate or partly so 
—presents with the high level form, bi- or tri pinnate, with slender stipes and 
rhachis, and with small, narrow pinnules, and also to the differences of margin, 
I am not surprised that several species have been made oat of this plant ; but 
X do not think this is necessary. Blanford says : — 1 “ Below 6000' it is bipinnate 
only as regards the lowest pair of pinnae and the pinnules are broad and lar^e. 
Specimens from higher elevations have several pairs of piunm again 
pinnate, and the pinnules are smaller and narrower. It is often 3-pinnate. 5 ’ 
This is well expressed ; but the purely simply pinnate form is not mentioned. 
The venation varies : in some fronds the veinlets stop short of the margin', and 
are thickened (clubbed) at the ends, the marginal teeth in that case being quite 
disconnected from the veins : in most cases the veinlets run into the teeth, and 
quite to the margin. The anastomosis of veinlets of contiguous groups is as 
Beddome says, rare, and I have detected it in only 3 out of 25 fronds. The 
re-uniting or looping of forked veinlets within the same group is commoner 
The veinlets get so close towards the margin that X wonder how, in the 
simpler broad segment form, they keep separate. 
6. Go ieptopliylla, Desv. ; Syn. Fil. 383 ; Bedd. H. B. 382, and 
Suppt. 100. 
N.-W. P. : D. D. Hist. Mussooree, Dr. Bacon ; in Herb. Hort. Rew ; Kumaun — 
Colonel Davidson 1877, in Herb. Hort, Saharanpur : also in Herb. Hort. Rew 
Distrxb,— Amer. : Andes of Mexico and Ecuador; Paraguay. Eur. \ Jersey, 
France. ; Switzerland ; Spain and Portogal, Italy and Sicily, Corsica and other Medi- 
terranean Islands, Greece, Turkey. Asia : Persia. S. Ind,— W. Ghats, Ootacamnnd, 
