impossible for the critical expert on high-class selective 

 lines to consider any of these as other than " curios," 

 devoid of rhe charm of symmetry and perfection which the 

 elite must display to qualify them for their high position. 

 As " curios," on the other hand, they must be conceded 

 first rank. When we consider the mode of development 

 peculiar to the fern tribe generally, that is, that the frond 

 and all its subdivisions grow by the multiplication of cells 

 at their extreme tips, which normally results in a tapering 

 off to a more or less acute point, and that in that form of 

 variation known as cresting these growing points are multi- 

 plied so that the result is a bunch of terminals instead of a 

 normal single one, it seems, and indeed is, a very curious 

 thing that now and again Nature pursues exactly the oppo- 

 site course by suddenly checking the terminal growth 

 entirely. This she does in such a way that the end of the 

 frond, or it may be of all its subdivisions, terminates 

 squarely and abruptly, the midrib projecting either as a 

 horn or a thorn, and even being entirely suppressed. 

 This peculiar form has been found to occur in a number 

 of British species, viz. Lastrea Montana, Lastvea filix mas, 

 Athyvium filix fcemina, Polystichum angnlave, Scolopendvium 

 vulgare, and Osmunda regalis. In L. montana it occurs 

 so frequently (L. m. tvuncata) that in the Lake district 

 among the many fern-hunters there it is known as "the 

 beginner's Fern," since, as in our own experience, there 

 and elsewhere, where the species is plentiful, it is 

 almost sure to turn up once or twice in the course 

 of a day's hunting, sometimes as a thoroughbred, 

 with all fronds so characterized, and more often as a 

 "rogue" with only a few fronds truncate, and the rest 

 quite normal, in which case the truncate character is 

 almost sure to disappear under cultivation, as it may 

 indeed, however thorough the " find " may appear to be. 

 In L. filix mas truncate variation is rarer, but has been 



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