44 PALMER : 



Aspicniian platyneuron . They looked demure enough. There 

 came no clap of thunder from the sky, and Nature generally 

 retained her wonted calm. Somehow this seemed surprising 

 in the face of that inner tumult which caused one to look 

 wildly about, to utter incoherencies, and finally to recline 

 upon the ground while gathering a fresh store of breath. 

 There was something distinctly uncanny in the stoical silence 

 of the trees, the unchanging murmur of the stream, the gen- 

 eral unresponsiveness. One gathered that Nature rated at 

 nothing the achievement of a quest lasting a quarter of a 

 centur>\ and cared very little about such small things as 

 Aspleniii))} cbcnoides. 



The companion ferns of this rare form, as we found it, 

 have been mentioned. It is a significant fact that in the ori- 

 ginal locality, and in almost or quite every other situation 

 where it has since been found, the walking leaf and the ebony 

 spleenwort have accompanied it. This circumstance, taken 

 in connection with the fact that this scarce fern is intermedi- 

 ate in almost all its characters between the two species men- 

 tioned, has led most observers to view it as a hybrid between 

 them. Dr. L. M. Underwood, chiefly, as it would appear, 

 from the relative abundance of the plant in question, and the 

 relative scarcity of its supposed parents, at the Havana Glen 

 locality in Alabama, vigorously combats the theory of hybrid- 

 ity, and is firm in the assertion that A. ebcnoides is a 'good 

 natural species. Hybrids, whether natural or artificial, are 

 usually inclined to sterility. This fern, it appears, shows 

 every evidence of a self-continuing fertility in Alabama. 

 These facts unquestionably have weight, and the opinion of 

 Dr. Underwood is not of small importance. The plant is, 

 indeed, accustomed to form spores in a normal manner, and 

 probably these spores often do form prothallia, giving rise to 

 new plants. One of those observed in Chester Valley was 

 evidently several years old, and was sporing abundantly, 

 while the other two had the aspect of a second generation 

 from the same stock. But nothing' could be concluded with 



