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Porey, every form of this fern from the simply pinnated, to the bipinnated 
A. affine No. 88 can be collected. On the exposed ends of the rock, where there 
is but little soil, the pinnaa are simple and less gashed, but towards the cen- 
tre of the rock, where the shade becomes dense and the soil deep, the 
gashings, increase until they at last become separate divisions of the primary 
pinnge. I feel quite sure therefore that Bed. 1. tt. 225 and 226, are for mere 
forms of this Pern, agreeing with C. P. 2905 and 1341. But see further re- 
marks on 81 and 88. A. falcatum has the sori in long lines from the rachis 
to near the edges, whilst in A. caudatum they are generally in paralled rows 
close to the midrib. A collection of Ferns made by me on the lower Badulla 
Road, between the Maha Oya and Gonegamma, and elsewhere, especially of the 
A. affine form, since the foregoing note was written, convinces me still fur- 
ther that some six to ten of our supposed species of Aspleniums are mere forms 
of one variable species, very much affected in their size, hairiness, mode of cut- 
ting &c. by the soil, and climate in which they are found. 
After the letter press of tt. 148-9, Beddome has the following note. “Va*- 
riety B. has the pinnules shaped more like those of A. spathulinum, (J. Sm.) 
a Ceylon species, the sori of spathulinum, however, are longer and extend to the 
margin. The following 5 species — Aspl. nitidum, Sw. Aspl. cuneatum, Lam. ; Aspl. 
affine, Sw. Aspl. spathulinum J. Sm. ; and Aspl. laserpi'tifolium Lam., are all very 
closely allied, and it is no easy point to decide to which species any fern of the 
cuneatum group should be referred.” Baker’s note on the four or five species 
which follow Aspl. cuneatum, indicate the same affinity between those supposed 
species. 
81. Alplenium caudatum, Forst. 
Bed. 1. tt. 140 and 141. I have never found this fern except in the 
hills and generally in crevices of rocks or on the trunks of trees, whilst A. 
falcatum is an abundant fern near the coast, see what I have said on 80 and 88. 
The following is Mr. Wall’s note on this Fern: — “ Asplenium caudatum, Forst. 
is distinguished from the forgoing species (A. falcatum) by its two parallel 
rows of sori close to the rachis, in addition to which it has often other short 
oblique sori. It is very variable in regard to the shape and cutting of the 
pinnae.” Mr. Wall does not in his Catalogue quote any of Beddome’s tables for 
this fern, but I think there can be no doubt that the two quoted by me above 
are for this one. Bed. 1. t. 140 Aspl. contiguum, Klfs., is good for our typi- 
cal form, and the following words of the description given agree for it well, — 
“ Sori contiguous, parallel with the costa,” whilst Bed. 1. t. 141. (Named Aspl. 
falcatum) can scarcely be for any other fern except A. caudatum, tt. 140-141 
are nearly identical in essential characters, After 1. t. 143, called erroneously 
Aspl. caudatum, Beddome has the following further note : — “ The above five 
species of the (simply pinnate) furcatum group, viz., planicaule — contiguum — 
falcatum — macrophyllum, and caudatum are very closely allied, and Botanists 
do not agree as to the limits of the species.” Swartz puts A. caudatum into 
the bipinnatifid to bipinnate section, and Willdenow into the bipinnatifid. I 
have shown elsewhere that our Ceylon A. affine, is a bipinnatifid form of A. 
falcatum. 
82. Asplenium Gardneri, Baker. 
In my list I had this fern down as A. macrophyllum, Sw., and the fol- 
lowing is my note on it in reference to this latter name: — 
Under this name Beddome figures the fern which is undoubtedly A. fal- 
catum. C. P. 1340, judging from the description in Syn. Fil., must be a very 
small form of A. macrophyllum, which is not an uncommon fern on rocks and 
trunks of trees in the damp forests of the interior. The specific name is cer- 
tainly not applicable for our Ceylon specimens of this fern, for which Beddome^ 
gives no figure. 
I have made the correction from Mr. Wall’s Catalogue, and now quote 
his note on it : — “ Asplenium Gardneri, Baker. This plant has been hitherto 
known in Ceylon as A. macrophyllum, but a careful comparison of our species 
with all the forms of A. macrophyllum represented in the Few Herbarium seems 
