22 



may start as a normal one and produce normal growth 

 as it unfolds for, say, half its length and then change and 

 become dissected, or perhaps one side or one division only 

 will be dissected, then the normal be resumed again. 

 Another inconstant fern is that beautiful Athyvium A. ff. 

 Kalothrix. This is very apt to produce not normal fronds, 

 but a very good plumose form, and this perhaps only in 

 segments or it may be entire fronds. Furthermore, we 

 may gather spores frcm a perfect frond, and amongst a 

 batch of youngsters of the true Kalothrix type a percentage 

 of the plumose form may appear which, however, are 

 usually constant and are known as ^ . ff. pliunosuiii Stans- 

 field. A. ff. KalotJivix lineave a.nd foliosuin, raised from Kalo- 

 thrix, also revert in the same partial fashion, while our own 

 accidental raising oi A. ff. K. cristatum has the same defects, 

 a fair proof that mysterious as was its origin it is of true 

 Kalothrix descent. 



In some Ferns it is clear that an inconstant factor is 

 latent, though it never appears in the plants themselves, 

 but when their spores are sown, it comes out in the shape 

 of diverse progeny. Thus, in the beautiful form of P. 

 aquilina pevcristata, we always get a percentage P. aq. grandi- 

 ceps all alike and all perfectly barren, and very different 

 indeed from the very robust parent. To get grandiceps, 

 therefore, by spores, we must always sow the parent. 



{To be continued.) 



BRITISH FERNS AT THE ROYAL 



INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL 



EXHIBITION AT CHELSEA. 



One of the main exhibits at this great Show was that 

 of Ferns by Messrs. H. B. May & Sons, of Edmonton, who 

 allotted nearly one third of their ample space to British 

 Ferns and their varieties, a considerable number of the 

 finest forms holding their own triumphantly in competition 



