( 42 ) 
conspicuous ferns of the interior. It has a wide creeping rhizome, and can be 
seen growing on the sides of the moist cuttings on the Kaduganava incline 
and together with 71, Blechnum orientale, is one of the most common ferns seen 
in gullies, or overhanging cuttings on all the road-sides of the Central Province 
its large feathery fronds curving over gracefully and concealing every other plant’ 
When it grows in dry soil and exposed it is a stiff rigid one compared to 
136. The N. Haenkeanum, Presl. 171. p. 290, of Syn. Fil. given by Baker as a 
Ceylon fern, must be^ a mere form of this one. Baker says, it is “much laraer 
and less hairy than N. cucullatum, with more numerous veins, and a very fuga- 
cious involucre.” If this fern is really distinct from 139, there is evidently a 
mistake in saying it is found in Ceylon. 
140. Nephrodium amboineuse, Presl. 
Bed. \ 201. for C. P. 3391. See my notes on Nos. 120 and 138. 
This is more like a small herbaceous form of the next one, N. arbuscula, 
than any other Ceylon fern, and is most distinct from any form of N. exten- 
sum. Beddome says it only differs from the ordinary form of N. extensum in 
its smaller size, &c. but the fact is that the true N. extensum is “ cut about two- 
thirds down to the rachis into linear oblong- lobes,” with the “ sori always 
nearly terminal in the lobes,” whilst this one is cut only “ about a quarter 
down in bluntish slightly falcate lobes,” and has “the sori in rows close to 
the midrib .” The C. P. specimen before me has only serratures along the pinnse. 
It must be a rare fern in Ceylon. It is found in the Uva district, C. P. 
3498 is no doubt the large form of this fern. 
141. Nephrodium arbuscula, Besv. 
Bed. 1. t. 87. This is a very common fern on the banks of streams 
or rivers in the Central Province, and in wet swampy ground. Very old plants 
of it have a trunk like caudex, with the remains of the fallen fronds around. 
See my note on the last one. 
141/ 1. Nephrodium abortivum, J. 8m. 
Bed. 11. t. 136. C. P. 3064 for N. eusorum, Th waites. In my list I 
have this fern down thus : — “ (Not in Ceylon?)” This one, 142, N. pennige- 
rum, Hk. and 144, N. truncatum, Presl., are all three given in Syn. Fil. as 
natives of Ceylon. The synonyms of 142, and 144, are so completely mixed up 
in the works before me, that I dare not attempt to separate them, but I am 
now fully convinced that 141/1 is a Ceylon fern, and that 144 is not so. 
The description of N. abortivum in Syn. Fil. , and the full one given by Thwaites 
in En. PI. Zeyl. p. 391, No. 25 for C. P. 3064 N. eusorum, Thw. so com- 
pletely agree, that there can be no doubt they are meant for the same fern. 
Beddome’s figure above quoted is one of the worst in his works, the sod are 
shown close to the main vein on his enlarged figure ; and actually touching it 
in the other, and the lobes of the pinnse are shewn to be serrated and toothed, 
and somewhat falcate, whereas the sori are very nearly medial ^ and the lobes 
are generally cut about ^ to \ way down and are close, entire, truncate. The 
sudden reduction of pinnse into mere auricles so well described by Baker 
and Thwaites is a most marked character of this fern. All my specimens are 
of a fine green color, and of a thin herbaceous texture. It is separated readily 
from 142, by the anastmosing of only about 1 to 2 pairs of the lower veins 
whilst in 142, 3 to 6, never less than 3 anastmose. I found this fern (141/1) 
at Sitawaka, and fine large specimens o f it in the belt of forests through 
which the main road passes a little beyond Craigie Lea near the Devon Falls, 
Dimbula. 
142. Nephrodium pennigerum, Hk, 
Bed. 1. t. 86. as N. abruptum, Presl. The Syn. Fil. quotes Aspidium 
muttilineatun, Wall, and N. articulatum, Moore, J. Sm. now both these are 
given by Houlston and Moore as natives of Ceylon. Gardner’s Magazine of 
Botany 3. p. 293 Nos. 1 and 5, respectively. No. 1 is said to be “ an ever- 
