334 Transactions. — Botany. 



developed irregularly as to time, some of the seeds having 

 ripened early in May, while at the present time (23rd June, 

 1903) there are capsules which are not yet fully ripe. In the 

 course of the summer the upper portions of these scapes 

 began to be clothed with leaves, which are now from 6 in. to 

 12 in. long. The growths of 1901 are still fresh and vigorous, 

 one of them having produced, in the early summer, a scape 

 about 18 in. long, which bore a few flowers and ripened seed. 



Since the above was written a succession of flowers has 

 been produced upon some of the upper brauchlets during the 

 months of August and September. 



Art. XXVIII. — On Abnormal Develojmients in Neiv Zealand 

 Ferns ; loith a List of Papers by various Authors on the 

 Ferns of New Zealand. 



By A. Hamilton. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 13th October, 1903.1 

 Plates XXVI., XXVII. 

 About ten years ago I was gathering specimens near the 

 junction of Morison's Creek with the Leith Stream, and I 

 noticed that the commonest fern in that particular part, 

 Lomaria flnviatilis, showed several remarkable variations at 

 the tips of the fronds, in the form of division and ci'esting. 

 A few specimens were collected for my collection of dried 

 ferns. A few months ago, however, I made a fresh visit to 

 that locality, as I found that the City Corporation were in- 

 tending to make this particular area the intake for an addi- 

 tional water-supply for Dunedin. I closely examined the 

 area over which the crested fronds were found, and discovered 

 a large proportion of the plants were growing on about a 

 quarter of an acre. A large proportion of this space is covered 

 by cuttings for a road up the creek and a road leading to 

 higher ground. The face of these cuttings has received the 

 spores of several species of ferns mainly belonging to the 

 genus Lomaria — L. fluviatilis, L. discolor, L. lanceolata, and 

 L. ])rocera — with a few Aspleniiim and Pteris. The southerly 

 exposure of the area was evidently favourable to the growth 

 of fern-life, and there was sufficient moisture to insure quick 

 growth. I endeavoured to obtain specimens of small young 

 plants with crested fronds, but was not successful, except in 

 the case of a stray plant of Lomaria lanceolata. In fully 

 adult plants of L. fluviatilis, probably from ten to twenty 

 years old, judging by the size of the root-stocks and the re- 



