87 



points existed where these rhizomes had slightly run up 

 the pot edges. Any fern which is obviously checked for 

 no apparent reason may well be plunged, and it is quite 

 probable that a few of these marauders may be busy in the 

 heart of the caudex, though invisible, unless very drastic 

 shaking out be effected. Frequently in such cases mere 

 turning out of the ball from the pot may reveal 

 the white (sometimes grey in their young state) grubs 

 snugly ensconced next the pots, which invariably means a 

 further brood within the body of the soil. In places badly 

 infested by the weevil, this winter search and the applica- 

 tion of the suggested remedy is all the more advisable, as 

 the grubs appear to have few enemies, and hence nearly 

 every one permitted to survive will make its appearance 

 in the spring as a beetle, which is a source of great damage 

 by eating the rising or perfected fronds, and as a pro- 

 genitor of a numerous brood of grubs, and thus a per- 

 petuator of the nuisance on a larger scale. In hardy 

 ferneries under glass the existence of this pest, when once 

 introduced, almost compels pot culture as against the in- 

 stallation of the ferns in the soil itself in rockeries, since 

 in the latter case they become ineradicable owing to the 

 impossibility of locating the grubs when their root ravages 

 are too partial to detect by failure of the plant. 



MYSTERIOUS FERNS. 



Although our utter ignorance of the cause of variations 

 renders every " sport " a mystery, there are a few ferns in 

 cultivation whose origin is so strange as to place them in 

 a separate category, and entitle them specially to be 

 classed as above. In the ordinary way, whether under 

 natural conditions or under culture where considerable 

 numbers of specific forms are found or raised, we occa- 

 sionally find more or less isolated specimens which have 



