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small plint produced from such a bulbil. About four 

 years ago it occurred to me to try how long such a plant 

 would exist if fresh air were entirely excluded, and I 

 consequently placed a small base about one-third of an inch 

 long, which had developed a bud, in a glass pickle jar, 

 closed by a glass stopper provided with a tightly-fitting, 

 rubber ring, the rim of the stopper also resting on the rim 

 of the jar. The jar being thoroughly cleansed, some 

 coarse silver sand, thoroughly washed and freed from 

 all organic matter, was placed in the bottom of the jar 

 to about an inch in depth ; the surplus water was drawn 

 off by means of blotting-paper, so that the sand was 

 simply saturated but not flooded. The base bearing the 

 bud with one minute frond was then dropped on to the 

 •centre of the sand, bud uppermost ; the stopper was 

 inserted tis^htly and wired over to prevent removal. 



From that time to this growth has continued, the 

 Hartstongue has grown healthily season after season, its 

 fronds reaching the stopper, and, as may be seen, partly 

 filling the jar. In addition to the Hartstongue, two 

 seedling Lastreas have made their appearance, probably 

 from stray spores adherent originally to the base. A dense 

 mass of confervoid growth accompanies the Ferns, and 

 recently a small worm was noticed on the glass inside. 

 As water from the main was used, and confervas spores 

 were probably on the base itself, the presence of other 

 vegetation than the Fern intentionally introduced is 

 easily accounted for. The problem, however, is. Whence 

 has all the material been derived for so much vegetative 

 growth, considering that originally only a very small 

 piece of the base of a Hartstongue frond was introduced, 

 that the sand (quartz) was thoroughly washed, and that 

 the bottle being hermetically sealed, no fresh supply 

 •of carbonic acid gas was available for structural purposes ? 

 On exhibiting the bottle in May, 1907, to the Scientific 



