VARIATION OF COLOUR. 375 



recorded as closely allied species among the exotic 

 denizens of our ferneries, may be only varieties ; and 

 if we had as great abundance of specimens for obser- 

 vation, we might find as great a diversity as among 

 our own. Asplenmm prcemorsum, for example, a 

 widespread tropical species, varies greatly in its forms 

 even in our stoves. 



While variation of form appears thus to be pecu- 

 liarly prevalent, variation of colour has been, up to a 

 very recent period, quite unrecognised among ferns ; 

 though among phenogamous plants it prevails widely. 

 But the new-fashioned love for piebald plants appears 

 to have created a supply for the demand even here. 

 Within a year or two four distinctly marked species 

 have occurred, and have been very largely multiplied ; 

 as, like the monstrous forms, the colour-variegation 

 proves constant. The first variegated fern that was 

 announced was Mr Veitch's Pteris argyrea, which 

 appears to be a condition of the noble Pt. quadriaurita 

 of India. Then M. Linden, of Brussels, produced the 

 much more showy Pt. aspericaulis, var. tricolor, with 

 its fine purple mid-rib running through a broad stripe 

 of white. And then Pt. Cretica, var. albo-tineata, 

 was sent to Kew, from the mountains of Java. Now 

 our own brake is added to the list ; for Mr Stansfield, 

 of Todmorden, informs us, that, making a botanical 

 excursion with Mr Eastwood lately, the latter dis- 

 covered a patch of Pt. CLquilina, " so beautifully and 

 distinctly variegated, that it had the appearance of 

 being sprinkled with snow ;" and it figures in his cata- 



