160 
In this connection practical studies of the horticultural qualities 
of whole series of the Boston Fern sports and the others have 
been made, both as a measure of cooperation with florists and for 
the very considerable increase in technical information gained 
thereby. In this cooperation sets of cultivated varieties have been 
quite widely distributed to florists and experiment stations to be 
tried out for their horticultural value. The results have been 
published in scientific and horticultural periodicals. 
Project 4. Comparative Morphology and Phylogeny of 
Nephrolephis Types 
Scope: 
1. The investigation of the relative degrees of differences be- 
tween feral types, bud sports, and sporeling varieties. In this 
problem there is involved the possible determination of the sys- 
tematic value of various anatomical differences among the differ- 
ent forms. The Garden collections comprise a considerable series 
of wild species, as well as the two types of variations indicated. 
Status: 
The progress in this project has been made through the experi- 
mental cultivation under similar conditions of the three types of 
forms, and in the gradual accumulation of representative photo- 
graphs and herbarium specimens. The project requires that the 
anatomical and morphological differences be intensively studied 
by histological means, and the Garden offers exceptional material 
for this purpose. 
At the Grand Exhibition of Tropical Ferns and Orchids, held 
by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Boston, September 
22-25, 1921, the Botanic Garden was awarded a special Gold 
Medal for its exhibit of ferns, which included 66 varieties of the 
Boston Fern and other forms of Nephrolepis (several of which 
originated at the Botanic Garden), and 42 different kinds of ferns 
not in Nephrolepis, chosen to give an idea of the diversity in the 
fern families. Twenty-five genera comprising nine families were 
included. 
