92 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL 
lected there compared with one hundred and sixty-six 
flowering plants. Who wants to go there? 
Questions.—If ‘‘hex” means six, why is Phegopteris 
hexagonoptera so-called? It is an example of a good 
equilateral triangle. 
What causes ferns to grow forked? If it is a freak, 
are some genera more liable to grow thus? 
Lituian A. CoLe. 
ANSWERS.—The original description of Phegopteris 
hexagonoptera gives the reason for the name, in this 
phrase: ‘‘membranis pinnas oppositas connectentibus 
oblongo-hexagonis.”! That is, the name refers not to 
the outline of the frond (which Michaux notes as 
“almost an equilateral triangle’), but to the shape 
of the dilated lower portions of the pinnae which are 
adnate to the rachis and form wings along it. 
A. W. 
Orthogenesis (a kind of evolution), that is, an innate 
tendency to vary along that line. That is as much as 
anyone knows. All we know is that it is a common 
variation among ferns taken as a whole. It is com- 
moner among certain cultivated kinds of ferns, and 
probably in some genera or species, Polypodium vulgare 
and Athyrium filix-femina for example. 
Thirty years ago there were people who could have 
explained it much better than now. They knew why 
a leopard is spotted, and a tiger striped. Why? Oh, 
because the leopard lives under trees with spotted 
shade, due to their large leaves, and the tiger lives 
under bamboos and such like which have long leaves 
and so throw striped shade. 
1 Michaux, Fi. Bor. Am. 2, 271. 1803. 
