90 



adjacent to the culture which yielded the plants — a fairly 

 large batch, all alike. Its hybrid character is, perhaps, 

 but not surely, indicated by the infertility of its spores, as 

 the todeas are difficult to raise. On the other hand, some 

 time afterwards, Todea Moovei (Baker) was introduced as 

 a new species from Australia, and this cannot be dis- 

 criminated from Todea gvandipinnula. 



The appearance of specific exotic forms in collections 

 prior to their intentional introduction, such as occurred 

 with Lomaria PaUvsoni at Kew years before it had been 

 found in its native habitat and sent thither, can, of course, 

 be accounted for by wind-borne spores being introduced 

 in the soil attached to other importations, but that is a 

 very different matter to most of the cases cited above, 

 where no similar type is known to exist, and where the 

 chances would seem to be infinitely against the appearance 

 of not one only but numerous examples within the very 

 limited area of an ordinary culture. The case of the 

 todeas involves the actual evolution of a different species 

 at one jump, for had the varied type not appeared under 

 culture as described, the subsequently-imported plants 

 would never have been associated with T. supevba at all, a 

 fact which opens up the whole question as to wherein lies 

 the difference between a true species and an absolutely, 

 constant distant variety which produces true progeny in 

 continuous succession, as so many varieties do. 



Chas. T. Druery, F.L.S., V.M.H. 



DWARF BRITISH FERNS. 



The fact that among the many forms of variation which 

 our British ferns have assumed, there is a very fair number 

 of tiny editions de luxe, as it were, must be of interest to those 

 whose space is particularly limited, and hence I make no 

 apology for describing a few of the best. This peculiar 



