Field.— On Hybrid Ferns. 373 



nothing to distinguish it from H. demissum, even with a 

 powerful magnifying-glass, and wrote to her to that effect. 

 She has since sent me better specimens, and with them some 

 which she had rightly classed as H. demissum, but which had 

 evidently grown pendulous on a tree-trunk, and were of a 

 paler green and more transparent texture than usual. As 

 some members of our Society are no doubt aware, I was blind 

 with cataract for about three years ; and though by an opera- 

 tion the sight of one eye is so far restored that I can read and 

 write, yet telescopes and microscopes are useless to me, not 

 being capable of being adjusted to suit my altered vision. 

 Thus, though the second specimens were less glossy than the 

 first, I could not detect distinct tomentum. My son, how- 

 ever, happened to come to see me, and I showed him the 

 specimens, which he said had the framework of the ferns dis- 

 tinctly furry ; and thus I have come to the conclusion that 

 the fern is a hybrid, though not sufficiently distinct from 

 H. demissum to justify being separately classed. 



It is not the first time that I have had ferns of a similar 

 character sent to me by collectors for the purpose of being 

 named ; and I have also met with such examples myself. In 

 particular, in a little bush at Otaihanga I found what was 

 clearly Nephridium glabcllum, yet which had developed 

 slightly creeping roots like N. deconipositum ; and near to 

 Nelson there is a small form of Asplenium umbrosum which 

 creeps slightly instead of merely forming a crown of fronds. 

 The late Eev. W. Colenso also evidently met with similar 

 cases, and classed them as new ferns — e.g., his Lomaria 

 aggregata is merely L. lanc'eolata, which had developed lateral 

 crowns ; and, curiously enough, just at the time when his 

 paper on it was published in the Transactions, I noticed that 

 a plant of this fern in one of my cases had similarly divided 

 into several crowns. It seems to me pretty evident that 

 when two prothalli grow so close together that when their 

 edges meet they are forced upwards, their sexual organs must 

 come close together ; and if they are of closely allied species 

 hybridisation is likely to occur. Thus I think the fern of 

 which Miss Creswell sent me specimens is a cross between 

 H. demissum and H. scabrum ; and that the recognition of the 

 possibility of hybridisation, if made known, may assist col- 

 lectors in naming these, as it were, transitional forms. 



