247 



been attributed to its parental form, among whose other 

 offspring there were moreover no gradational types, the 

 nine plants stood out clearly and definitely by themselves, 

 and when their spores have been sown, they have 

 reproduced themselves quite truly. Bulbils are occasion- 

 ally produced on the surfaces of the fronds of this variety 

 y{vide Frontispiece, December, 191 3). 



C. T. D. 



ON VARIATION GENERALLY. 



(On glancing through our first Fern Book, " Choice 

 British Ferns," published as long ago as 1888 — as soon 

 indeed as we persuaded ourselves that we had accumulated 

 •enough experience to be able to distribute some of it in 

 printed form — we have thought that the following excerpts 

 from it might interest our present readers, the great 

 majority of whom we may reasonably assume to be un- 

 acquainted with a book which has now been out of print 

 for many years.) 



We are constantly brought into contact with the 

 phenomenon of variation, since it is precisely due to its 

 existence that we are enabled to discriminate John Smith 

 from Tom Robinson, and to single out, without the 

 shadow of a misgiving, all our numberless friends and 

 acquaintances, male or female, from the myriad similar 

 human beings with whom we find them associated. 



The saying that " variety is charming " is universally 

 accepted as a true one, but few consider what the world 

 would be without it. Imagine, for one moment, for in- 

 stance, what a lively state of affairs it would cause in 

 society if every man or woman exactly resembled every 

 other. In Shakespeare's " Comedy of Errors " we see how 

 complex matters became owing to only two couples — these 

 both males — lacking this essential element of variety, the 

 imbroglio of mistakes between masters and men, and, 



