J o 2 



twenty-five per cent, contained Cryptogamic vegetation — 

 mostly ferns. These, by reason of the aforesaid colour, 

 were not discovered till last year, while the publication 

 concerning them was due to the arrival, at a critical 

 juncture, of the " paper man." 



So it would appear that several sets of circumstances 

 had contributed to this " mysterious " result. 



Scores of persons, it seems, had given their curiosity 

 vent ; but as no one seemed able to throw any light on the 

 phenomenon, I ventured to suggest that as the ferns inside 

 the bottles corresponded with the predominant ferns of the 

 immediate neighbourhood, the "mystery" was half ex- 

 plained. Moreover, the fern-spore — which answers roughly 

 to the flower-seed — is produced by Nature in lavish pro- 

 fusion, that it is light and microscopical, and that, in 

 consequence, it is freely transferred by wind and other 

 agencies from one place to another. As, therefore, the 

 spore under such conditions must precede the fern, it 

 follov/s that the spores were present in the soil when the 

 bottles were inserted. Two conditions are essential to 

 the germination of spores — heat and moisture. The sun 

 supplies the one, and, in this case, the soil in the upturned 

 receptacles supplied the other. 



A third condition, however, would include light, for 

 according to Prof. Henslow " every plant naturally 

 adapted to receive light, theoretically at least, requires an 

 optimum degree for perfect growth and development." As 

 these plants could not profit by this condition, they were 

 necessarily elongated, weak, semi-transparent and other- 

 wise abnormal, although I have no doubt as to their 

 specific character. The species, then, contained in these 

 bottles were pretty equally divided between the common 

 Male Fern [Lastvea filix-mas), and the common Shield Fern 

 {Polystichum angulare), with, as far as I could see, a solitary 

 Hartstongue [Scolopendvium vidgave). I trust these scanty 

 details will help to elucidate this " mystery." 



