342 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV 111. 



by almost all English botanists. If I have a large Indian collection to name I 

 can at once bring together all the -varieties Lastrea Filix-mas and Polystichum 

 aculeatum under those species, as they have a most unmistakeable specific like- 

 ness, but to arrange them all correctly under varietal names is very difficult and 

 probably no two botanists would arrange them in the same way. 



If botanical and horticultural gardens and growers of ferns in India would 

 give attention to raising from spores the different varieties of Atlnjrium Filix- 

 femina, Alhyrium nigripes, Polystichum aculealum and Lastrea Filix-mas — I am 

 sure we should have very interesting scientific results. 



