270 



away excelling in beauty and fine, dissection the grand- 

 parental and parental forms. Among the non-crested 

 forms A. f.f. plumosum Druevy speedily asserted itself as 

 incomparably the finest Lady Fern known, its great size 

 and fine cutting rendering it unique. At the head of 

 the crested section A. f.f. siipevbum percvistatuiii bore fronds 

 distinctly crested to the fourth degree, even the pinnulets 

 bsing beautifully fanned at the tips, while frond tips, pinnae 

 and pinnules bore w^ell-developed tassels of great beauty, 

 A considerable number of plants of both sections arose 

 from the sowing of the " superbum " spores, and all with- 

 out exception were extremely refined in character, some 

 of the uncrested type, such as " dissectum " and " plu- 

 mosissimum," constituting reversions to the original 

 " Axminsterense " form, but more finely cut than even 

 "elegans." Some of both sections have developed the 

 bulbil-bearing character, and, curiously enough, " plumosum 

 Drueryii," despite its extremely foliose and plumose 

 character, has had in some seasons its frond backs covered 

 with bulbils with developed young fronds. These bulbils 

 yield quite true replicas of the immediate parent, but only 

 on a few occasions have they succeeded in surviving the 

 winter, since, of course, they are terribly handicapped by 

 the fact that the fronds bearing them are quite deciduous, 

 dying down in the autumn, and thus depriving them of 

 support. Success has only been achieved by layering 

 portions of the frond early in the autumn, and inducing, 

 by close culture, the formation of sufficient roots to tide 

 them over the dead season. 



The history of the third case — that of Polystichnin 

 acideatum pulclicvyimum — which has yielded us the entirely 

 new "gracillimum " type, is of peculiar interest. In 1876 

 Dr. Wills, of Chard, one of our most noted fern-hunting 

 pioneers, had a fern brought to him by a farm labourer 

 named Beavis, who had found it in a hedge bordering a 

 field in which he was w^orking and thought it curious 

 enough to engage the doctor's attention. Dr. Wills had 



