89 



investigation, and eventually confirmed the discovery 

 entirely. On examination he found that the spore heaps 

 commenced to form, but at a certain stage aborted, the 

 stalks of the spore capsules then producing prothalli, the 

 spore itself being entirely eliminated. Immediately on 

 this Mr. G. B. WoUaston put forward a form of soft Shield 

 Fern (P. angtdave pulchevviumm Padky), in which the extreme 

 tips of the frond divisions grew out into prothalli, thus 

 cutting out even the spore heaps or any association with 

 it. I next noted the same thing in P. ang. pulch. Wills, a 

 similar but quite separate find. Next, a tiny seedling of 

 Lastrca pseudo mas. cristata, in a Wardian case, was seen to 

 bear a prothallus at the frond top, and eventually broke 

 out into a rash of them all over the surface, an affection, 

 however, which it threw off entirely as it grew up. It 

 appears, however, to be in the blood of the family, since 

 later on Dr. F. W. Stansfield discovered apospory in 

 another member of it, and presumably a direct spore sport 

 from L. p. JH. cristata itself, L. p. in. pevcvistata apospova, 

 a little gem of cristation, every point of which will develop 

 into prothalli if layered, and these prothalli in their turn 

 produce young ferns by apogamy, so that the two 

 phenomena are here combined, the result being the very 

 speedy production of plants, owing to the saving of the 

 time necessary for the production of the antheridia and 

 archegonia and the subsequent fertilization. Polypodium 

 vtilgave has afforded an instance in a seedling raised by me 

 from P. V. sevvatum, but only in its juvenile stage. 



The Hartstongue was my next discovery, 5. v. cvispiim 

 Dvummondiae tempting me by the transparence of its fringes 

 to layer them, with the result that they produced prothalli 

 and plants freely by apospory. Then at two meetings of 

 the B.P.S. A. f.f. Clavissima forms were shown of quite 

 independent origin from that of Col. Jones, but similarly 

 gifted; one, A. f.f. Clavissima Bolton, a wild find, the other 

 A. f.f. Clavissima cristatum Gavnett, raised from an unknown 

 parent. Both these attracted my attention, first of all by 



