251 



a most striking contrast in every respect to the eight or ten 

 which preceded them from the same crown. The causes 

 of variation are sufficiently batfling, but this type of it is 

 more so than usual, since it does not belong to the category 

 of either seminal or bud "sports," neither can it be 

 imputed to change of environment, since the plant con- 

 cerned had been in the same pot all the season while 

 producing the earlier fronds of the corymbiferous type and 

 had not been shifted when it altered its mind as it were 

 and determined to close the season with fronds on another 

 plan. It now remains to be seen how it will act next 

 season. I should, however, be inclined to predict that the 

 new and superior type would then arise, the bunch type 

 being a sort of preliminary stage only. Let us hope so, 

 as it will then undoubtedly rank among the foremost of 

 the elite. C. T. D. 



FERN-HUNTING: WILD FINDS AND 



SEEDLINGS. 



The question is sometimes asked, and perhaps more 

 often thought, " Why do you trouble to hunt for wild ferns 

 when there are so many beautiful things — far more than 

 you can find room to grow, and far better than anything 

 you can hope to find — which can be had almost for the 

 asking ? " Put in this blunt way, the question may well 

 seem a poser to the man who has little spare time, who is, 

 moreover, well past his prime, and who is possibly " fat 

 and scant o' breath." Nevertheless, the true hunter, the 

 man who has once tasted blood, goes on steadily hunting 

 whenever and wherever the opportunity may arise, although 

 his collection may be already crowding his accommodation 

 to its utmost limit. He can alwavs make room for a new 

 find even though he may have to give away something 

 better in order to do so. There is great satisfaction in a 

 day spent among the glens and fells of the north or in 



