292 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
form of elegantissimum, which might have been a secondary sport per se, 
but when it tried to get back to normality it produced a frond of the true 
type of bifido cristatum. Fig. 108 shows fronds of both parents and of 
the result of their union. 
Mr. Schneider, in his marvellous hybrid (the most striking yet pro- 
duced, to my mind) between this same elegantissimum and the huge exotic 
Phlebodiuwm aureum, finds the hybridism confirmed by precisely the same 
character of partial reversion. In another cross between Athyriwm 
filix femina Victorie, the most remarkable Fern yet found, bearing 
percruciate and tasselled fronds, and A. f. f. setigerwm with translucent, 
bristiy excrescences all over it, the result is A. f. f. Victorie, true 
to type, but bristling throughout with the setigerwm character. 
Crosses and hybrids of this class bear their certificates of origin 
upon their fronts: in each case the parents are pure-bred original finds, 
and in their offspring the strong parental marks are distinctly brought 
out. At Kew there are a great number of marked instances among 
the Polystichums raised by Colonel Jones and others by crossing 
his polydactylous find of P. angulare with many other varieties. 
In this Fern there must have been some special prepotency, for the 
crosses were innumerable, but in every one that I have seen as yet they 
are ear-marked by the parental defect of producing here and there non- 
polydactylous divisions and irregular furcation to boot. One and all 
present this feature, which establishes the dual origin convincingly, but 
spoils the plants. Fig. 109 shows fronds of one of these crosses as typical 
of all, the x marks indicating the defects. 
Among hybrids between species, I must not omit to mention Mr. 
Lowe’s indubitable cross between Scolopendrium vulgare and Ceterach 
officinarum. As will be seen from the fronds of it exhibited, they are of 
Ceterach pinnation, though confluent at the tip and quite scaleless, while 
the fructitication can be detected on the basal pinne as in faced pairs, 7.e. 
Scolopendrium fashion, and further up, as single lines, 7.e. in the cha- 
racter of the Spleenworts. Ido not know whether this plant is still alive, 
but the fronds shown establish its hybrid character and determine both 
parents with certainty. I invite particular attention to this exhibit, as I 
fear it constitutes all the evidence existing, and I should like it to be con- 
firmed by others. In ‘ European Ferns,” p. 137, a presumed natural 
hybrid between the same two species is figured, but considering the great 
varietal capacity of Scol. vulgare, and the existence of numerous 
pinnatifid forms, the hybridism in that case is, to my mind, extremely 
doubtful. 
Having thus cited a few of the conclusive evidences of the possibility 
of crossing, not merely varieties but also widely different species, and 
given a few hints as to the modus operandi, the next thing is to give 
some idea of the directions in which this possibility may be utilised to 
the best advantage. Polypodiwm Schneidervi is, L think, eloquent with 
two possibilities of extreme value. The one is that of enhancing the 
simple beauty of many exotics by alliances with the highly ornate 
forms which our British hardy species have assumed, both under purely 
natural conditions as wild finds‘and under selective culture of the progeny 
which thev have yielded. The other is the increased capacity of exoties, 
