32 Rhodora [February 



not inclined to accept the hybrid theory because, although charac- 

 teristics of var. intermedium and var. dilatatum may be found in its 

 composition, these are not sufficiently obvious or pronounced to 

 justify us in assuming the hybrid relationship of the new form. The 

 special feature of Mr. Purdie's fern is the narrow and angular form 

 of the segments, and in this respect there is a resemblance to some 

 of the aiigulari' forms of Po/ystic/ium aculcatum. In that species the 

 segments are usually auricled at the base on the anterior side, and 

 the auricle is essentially a characteristic of the genus ; nevertheless 

 the auricle is frequently wanting altogether, and in this way forms 

 arise to which our fern bears a strong reseml)lance. In fact, if any 

 form of P. (Uiih'atum grew near by there might be grounds for 

 assuming a hybrid relationship between it and the new form. Then, 

 too. I believe with the distinguished and lamented botanist, Thomas 

 Meehan, that the tendency to vary inherent in all plants is sufficient 

 to account for most of these exceptional forms, and that it is rarely 

 needful to resort to the theory of hybridity. It is noteworthy also 

 that where hybridity has actually existed the resultant characters 

 have been sufficiently evident even when actual proof was wanting ; 

 and the recent successful experiments of that very clever fern-student, 

 Miss Margaret Slosson, in demonstrating hybridity in Aspleniiim 

 ebcnoides and Neplirodium cristatum x marginale, show very conclu- 

 sively that in such instances proof is attainable. 



I am much more inclined to the belief that the Concord fern is a 

 spore-variety. There is, in fact, no reason why the results of spore- 

 reproduction in the fern-plants should not be as diverse as those of 

 seed-reproduction in the flowering plants. I remember to have seen 

 once in a florist's greenhouse six plants of a Selaginella, all raised 

 from the spores of a single individual, which was still growing near 

 by, yet they were so different that had their origin not been posi- 

 tively known they might have passed as different species. There- 

 fore, I am inclined to consider this fern as having originated from 

 a spore of either var. intermedium or var. dilatatum, and here in 

 comparing the different characters, I find those which suggest var. 

 dilatatum, to be of a superficial nature, such as the mere outlines of 

 the lamina and the angles of direction of the different parts, while 

 those which suggest var. intermedium are fundamentally associated 

 with fructification and vestiture. T therefore regard the plant as a 

 natural variation of Nephrodium .pinulosum, var. interfnedium, and 



