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on a normal specimen he observed a single fan-shaped 

 pinnule bearing spores, and that on sowing these, a large 

 batch of plants all alike, and of the variety named, resulted. 

 Here it is clear that the sportive principle had extended 

 beyond the sori affected so as to affect the foliage which 

 bore them, or that it pervaded so much of the local foliar 

 area, and thus affected the sori. In the second case 

 the writer found, at Staverton, in Devon, a strong specimen 

 of the common Hartstongue (Scolopendrium vulgave), with 

 a large number of fronds, all but one of which were per- 

 fectly normal. The exception was of the type known as 

 sagittatum projectum, and this bearing a few spores was 

 gathered, and the spores eventually sown. Some half a 

 dozen plants resulted, all of which were alike, and all of a 

 true sagittatum pvojectuyn form, plus terminal crests. Here, 

 then, we see again a local affection of the foliage embracing 

 an entire frond associated with a sportive tendency in the 

 spores. Another question in this connection is, How far 

 is the sportive tendency dependent upon seasonal influence ? 

 Experience has taught the writer that a varietal Fern 

 capable of yielding exceptionally fine offspring at one time 

 may at another fail more or less entirely to do so. Thus, 

 the now well-known Athyrium filix-fcemina, known as the 

 " superbum," yielded from the first crop of spores which 

 the " superbum " parent produced, two unparalleled plumose 

 sections, one crested and the other uncrested, all of the 

 greatest merit. The parent plant still forms one of the 

 chief ornaments of our collection, but repeated sowings 

 since have only yielded mediocre forms or failed entirely, 

 presumably owing to long continued culture under glass 

 having weakened its vitality. Another Athyrium, A.f.f. 

 cristatum Kilvushense, a find of our own, and recognised as 

 the finest cristate wild find of the species, yielded from the 

 first sowing a good crop of the new form, but several sub- 

 sequent sowings have been hardly crested at all at one 



