Abstract: The present paper is a first instalment on the Chromosome counts by the authors of Chinese ferns, representing 13 species collected from the eastern coastal provinces of China. Our findings agree pretty well with the previous ones by botanists mainly in Japan. The voucher specimens for the present study are all preserved in the Department of Biology, the East China Normal University, Shanghai. We wish to thank Professor R. C. Ching for his constant encouragement andguidance in the study of Chinese fern cytology.