FERN GROWING 175 



parentage, and adding others of his own ; but he soon showed 

 himself master of the subject, and not only confirmed the 

 author's statements, but very materially strengthened the 

 proofs. He had persistently defended the practice of using 

 Latin descriptive (and even compound) names that had been 

 commenced by others when varieties were very few in number; 

 and it was only a short time before his death that he began to 

 realise the difficulties which were presenting themselves, especi- 

 ally as regards using compound words. The night before he 

 died he posted a very long letter to the author, in which he 

 concluded by saying, "If you come over to Clifton on Saturday, 

 I think that an hour's conversation in the ' Gardens ' will be 

 enough to convince me that your notions are correct, and that 

 descriptive Latin names will have to be discarded in future." 

 Before this note reached the author. Colonel Jones had passed 

 away. 



In 1888, during a severe frost, the author fell in Bristol 

 and broke his arm. Colonel Jones took him to his house, 

 where he remained his guest for six weeks, during which 

 time his anxiety to entertain an invalid, and his constant 

 care and attention, even to himself bringing a cup of tea at 

 four o'clock each morning, will always be remembered with 

 affectionate gratitude. 



With Colonel Jones's death the author lost his greatest 

 friend, one whose experience and sound judgment could always 

 be relied upon. His kindness of heart, his encouragement to 

 all those that were following in his footsteps, and his intense 

 feeling of the honour that should mark every gentleman, are 

 traits of his character that can never be forgotten. 



*^* The following are extracts from letters received from Colonel Jones and 

 Mr. E. F. Fox,* two well-known British Fern authorities, having had for many 

 years large collections. Colonel Jones, whose letter was written the day before 



* See also p. 179. 



