'83 



iEMULA. DiLATATA. 



Frond has no more a pe- 

 culiar odour than has 

 L. /. mas. or L. /. fcemina. 



Frond has a pleasant strong 

 fragrance when bruised, 

 resembling that of new 

 hay, and, as in the case of 

 hay, becoming developed 

 during the desiccation of 

 the plant. 



All these characters are permanent in the normal forms, 

 and most of them are found in the few varieties of both 

 these species known to cultivators. 



H. W. Lett. 



The above interesting note from the Rev. Canon un- 

 doubtedly entirely disposes of the idea entertained by Mr* 

 Lowe, that L. cemida changed, owing to the environment, 

 into L. dilatata. L. ismula in the open is a far more 

 delicate and less assertive fern than L. dilatata, and would 

 be very apt to perish where the latter would thrive. As the 

 Canon points out, there are very distinct specific differences 

 between the two, and the simple fact that the potted plants 

 grown under glass retained these characters, while with 

 those in the open they disappeared and were replaced by L. 

 dilatata ones, simply means that high or low evolution 

 had nothing to do with the change, but simply that L. 

 dilatata throve and multiplied itself by spores and otherwise, 

 while L. cemula died out. 



Editor. 



FERN "SEEDS." 



As in some of the reviews of my book, "British Ferns 

 and their Varieties " (Routledge), my use of the word 

 "seedlings" as representing Ferns raised from spores has 

 been contested, as also my consideration of the incipient 

 growth in the Fern pyothallus at the base of the avchegonium 

 as the equivalent of a seed proper, I should like to explain 

 the matter. In the first place I write for the layman and 



