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is fairly common, af ern which is normally perfectly decid- 

 uous, the fronds dying down completely in the autumn, a 

 plant was found at the end of November, 1912, in a per- 

 fectly green condition, though the ground was frozen hard 

 at the time at a temperature of 25°. Under these circum- 

 stances it was perfectly obvious that this particular plant 

 was so constitutionally different from the normal that in all 

 probability under cultivation it would prove to be ever- 

 green instead of deciduous, and thus constitute a most valu- 

 able acquisition. What, however, was done with it? We 

 learn that "all of the fronds were green when collected, 

 but two became somewhat brown in the process of drying," 

 and the record concludes with the remark, " How and why 

 this particular plant was enabled to withstand temperatures 

 which destroyed all of its kind and how much longer it 

 might have survived are points over which one can only 

 speculate." Is it not extraordinary that it did not occur 

 to the finder that its survival or non-survival lay entirely 

 at his discretion ? All he had to do was to lift it carefully, 

 take it home as a living plant, and test it by growing it on, 

 by doing which he might not only secure a valuable prize 

 but in time could have enriched the herbaria of himself and 

 his friends to his heart's content. It is, however, quite 

 clear from the tenor of his remarks that the precious root 

 was sacrificed, and all that remains of it are the dried fronds 

 and the bare record. That deciduous ferns are capable 

 by a sort of constitutional "mutation" or "sporting" of 

 assuming an evergreen habit is shown by the case in this 

 country of Cy stopfer is sempervirens, a form of C. frag His. 

 This was found in the winter in the Highlands of Scotland 

 in a perfectly green condition, precisely like that of the 

 A. pedaUim in question, viz. as a solitary plant of which 

 the normal form, though common, had entirely disappeared 

 owing to its perfectly deciduous nature. The finder, how- 

 ever, was not a botanist, but a fern lover. He at once 

 appreciated the prize, lifted the plant, took it home and 



