character to the rest. These three forms have been 

 derived directly from the parental Beavis, but past 

 experience would lead to the expectation that sooner or 

 later some of these wonderful offsprings may themselves 

 be fertile, and in that case would probably break into 

 fresh forms of possibly greater beauty as contributions to 

 the Ferns of the future of which we treat. We have only 

 to look back to the origin of the " superbum " Athyria to 

 see how a comparatively simple wild sport could in a 

 generation or two yield not merely one, but several 

 sections of such excellence as to stand unrivalled after 

 nearly thirty years. We may now turn to the Harts- 

 tongue, which at the beginning of this century might well 

 have been considered as having run through the entire 

 gamut of varietal possibilities, yet a glance through the 

 11 Gazette" will show types which were then undreamt-of. 

 5. v. plumosum and 5. v. Drummondiae superbum gvandiceps y 

 to wit, and now in Mr. Amos Perry's hands the first 

 named (presumably) has donned splendid fimbriate edges 

 and tassels greatly increasing its charm (S. v. plumosum, 

 Perry's variety, A.M., R.H.S.), while in the " crispum " 

 or frilled section Bolton's " nobile " well deserves its 

 name. To revert to the latest wild acquisition, the 

 plumose Oak Fern aforesaid, the writer's specimen has 

 thrown up ramose and crested fronds, indicating a possi- 

 bility which at the time of writing lies in an abundance of 

 healthy prothalli from spores taken from the ramose 

 fronds, so that it may well be hoped that the Ferns of the 

 future will embrace not merely one but several types of 

 variation in this hitherto coy species. The moral of this 

 article is that our members should not content themselves 

 with mere collections by search or purchase or exchange, 

 but should, like some of them, Dr. Stansfield, Messrs. 

 Cranfield, Eley, Walton, Edwards, Cowan, S. White, 

 Rev. H. K. Moore, and the Editor among others, devote 



