57 



conveyed to the offspring by spores, and there is some Httle 

 evidence in favour of its causing a sort of prepotency in the 

 spores, as they certainly produce plants very freely ; and in 

 Col. Jones' records it is stated that in a certain wood near 

 Portishead S. v. pevafevens existed in abundance. A form 

 of this, raised by ourselves, shows the truncate character in 

 the basal lobes (S. v. tvipcvaf evens), and A. f. f. excuvvens^ 

 shews it clearly, even in the pinnules. This would appear 

 to form a converse character to cvistatum, in which the 

 midribs are abnormally multiplied and extended instead of 

 becoming aborted, for that is what practically truncation 

 implies. 



In the Hartstongue we have numerous instances in which 

 the normally smooth surface is broken up into roughnesses 

 of various types, rugose, muricate, marginate, supra and sub- 

 lineate and so on ; and in this case we have a curious parallel 

 in the crested Begonias among flowering plants, where the 

 surface of the petals breaks out into a sort of incrustation 

 on similar lines. This peculiarity is truly transmitted 

 through the spores, and as the late Mr. E. J. -Lowe 

 demonstrated by a very large number of crosses, can be 

 imparted to other varieties by conjoined sowing, not, it 

 must be said, always to their advantage, since in our 

 opinion a little chamber of horrors might be contrived by a 

 selection of many of these. Then we have the medio- 

 deficiens type in Athyvium, L. filix mas, and P. angulave, in 

 which the minor divisions of the pinnae next the midrib are 

 either absent or represented by little thorns, their aborted 

 midribs. This character, as a rule, puts the fern decidedly 

 outside the ranks of the elite, but by no means always, 

 provided it be on regular and symmetrical lines. An 

 Athyviuin found by us as a seedling at the roadside in 

 Wigtonshire has this character clearly shewn in the pinnae, 

 as well as the frond, with a pretty result ; and some of the 

 lineare sections of P. angulave partake of this character, and 

 yet are quite eligible fjr select collections. A number 

 of quite independent sports of Lady Ferns of this kind 



