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virenSy given us by Colonel A. M. Jones some twenty- five 

 years ago, which one season will produce beautifully 

 crested even " grandiceps " fronds, and another will be 

 almost entirely normal. Last year, thanks to a Weevil 

 attack, we almost lost it, only a few points surviving when 

 we discovered a dozen or more fat white Weevil grubs had 

 all but demolished it. We gave these wretches the benefit 

 of the stamp act, and put the residue of the Fern (not the 

 Weevils) into a small pan. This season the pan is 

 crowded with splendidly crested and even ramose fronds, 

 as if to thank us for the rescue, but we noticed the last 

 fronds risen are only slightly forked, and apparently it will 

 finish up again with normal ones. 



Mr. Kirby's " Keratoides " find is closely paralleled by 

 our own Christmas discovery at Babbacombe some years 

 back, which eventually altered its form to a merely crested 

 one, but preserved its proliferous character, most of the 

 fronds producing a pair of bulbils between the basal lobes. 

 No one, however, would recognize it as a Keratoides or 

 Staghorn form now. Finally, we cannot too strongly 

 support Mr. Kirby's contention on the necessity of 

 *' Thoroughness " in Fern hunting. It is, we are convinced, 

 at the bottom of the curious fact that the general botanist 

 is rarely a successful finder of Fern sports. This we 

 attribute to the fact that his attention strays to other 

 plants as well. That without such distraction the Fern 

 hunter may overlook, as Mr. Kirby did, a marked variety 

 on more than one occasion, is due to the eye unwittingly 

 jumping, as it were, from one object to another. At the 

 critical moment some little peculiarity in the vicinity 

 catches the sight, distracts the attention, and the possible 

 prize is overlooked. 



In conclusion, the Editor would beg the members to 

 follow Mr. Kirby's example, by making notes on their 

 rambles or as they go through their collections, and let 

 him have the benefit of their practical knowledge, instead 



