24 I 



always appeals far more strongly to the mind than 



indefinite hearsay, and it is this convection rather than 



egotism, which has dictated this little excerpt from my 



own career as a fern hobbyist for the possible benefit of my 



readers. 



C. T. D. 



VARIETIES AND VARIETIES. 



In the study of variation in the Fern world, novv that it 

 is known that the number of varieties, natural, i,e. wild, 

 and cultural, as resulting from subsequent sowing of spores 

 from wild finds, is practically unlimited, discrimination of 

 what is worth growing and what is not becomes more and 

 more essential. The wild forms, of course, possess the 

 greatest interest as the results of natural evolution since 

 their abnormalities, however curious and in our present 

 knowledge inexplicable, must inevitably be due to some 

 underlying natural cause, some subtle influence in the 

 mother cell within which they must oiiginate. This must 

 be so, since every fern and every part of a fern starts growth 

 with a single cell, which by subsequent division and multi- 

 plication builds up a structure which, as a rule, conforms 

 to the specific plan of the plants concerned. We find, 

 however, that if we, as fern hunters, carefully examine a 

 large number of plants in a wild state, departures from 

 the normal specific type are by no means infrequent, mostly, 

 it is true, of a minor, or it may be, partial type; but as we 

 are aware, every now and again examples present them- 

 selves of a very marked character indeed, the peculiarities 

 pervading the entire plant, including its reproductive system . 

 As a result of this, not merely is the individual markedly 

 modified, but its progeny is similarly or even more markedly 

 affected, which of course is the selective cultivator's oppor- 

 tunity. Some species we find to be much more constant 

 to the normal type than others. With the Spleenworts, for 

 instance, we may examine thousands, nay, scores of 

 thousands without finding any appreciable departure ; while 



