Hamilton. — Abnormal Developments in N.Z. Ferns. 337 



Island, has stated"^' that he has never seen any variation 

 such as I have recorded above. /Although my modest ex- 

 perience of New Zealand ferns in the bush only dates 

 back to 1877, I have had the good fortune to come across 

 abnormal varieties in many genera and of many species. I 

 am referring now to abnormal varieties in the pinnae, and 

 not to such varieties as are recognised by the species-maker 

 as a rule. 



There is, however, one well-marked variety, discovered 

 by me in the Whanakino Ci^eek, in the ranges at the back 

 of the Hawke's Bay Pi-ovincial District, which has received 

 a name and description from the late Eev. W. Colenso. It 

 is a form of Polypodium pennigeru^n var. hamiltoniamim, Col., 

 which has remamed constant under cultivation for years. 



A variety of Lamar ia, described by the late T. H. Potts 

 as Loviaria dui)licata,\ is only a form of Lomaria procera in 

 which the stipe is persistently divided. 



A form of a rather uncommon fern, Asp)lenium umbrosum, 

 was described by the late Thomas Kirk,]: from Takaka, 

 Nelson, where it was found by Mr. J. McKenna Campbell, 

 as var. tenuifolhtm. It is mentioned that the plant has a 

 pleasant fragrance, a peculiarity which it shares v^ith a 

 Doodia and with Polypodium pustulatuvi, in New Zealand. 

 There are many species in various parts of the world which 

 are fragrant, and retain their odour for a long time in the 

 dried state. One species, Polypodium pihymatodes, is used 

 largely in the Polynesian Islands for scenting the cocoanut- 

 oil used for the human body. The odour of all these ferns 

 is apparently due to oil-glands in the substance of the fronds. 

 In England many of the Lastreas are scented. 



It is not often that sports are observed in tree-ferns, 

 but Mr. H. Matthews, the Government Forester, informs 

 me that some years ago he sent to Kew Gardens a fine 

 specimen of Dicksonia squarrosa which had all the pinnae 

 forked or crested. This plant came from the Catlin's Eiver 

 district. 



Other species which I have found in a crested condition in 

 the North Island are : Adiantum cunninghaniii, Hk. Of this I 

 obtained two crested plants on the limestone rocks at the 

 gorge of the river at Puketapu. These plants were grown in 

 Mr. H. S. Tiff'en's fernery, and when I last saw them were 

 quite constant. 



* Journ. of Botany, xxi., 1883, p. 140. 



t Potts, T. H. : " Notes on a Lomaria collected in the Malvern Dis- 

 trict (L. dvplicata).'" Trans. N.Z. Inst., ix., 491 ; 1876. 



J T. Kirk: "On a Remarkable Variety of Aspl. tunbrosum,3. Sm."^ 

 Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxiii., 424-425 ; 1890. 



22— Trans. 



