127 



promising seedling of P. angulare, of aposporous character. 

 This was figured in the Gazette of March, 191 1, as " an 

 aposporous Polystichum," and again, more fully developed, 

 in September, 19 14, as P. angulare pulchevvimum, H. Stans- 

 field, No. 1. A frond of the young plant was laid down 

 in 1910, and produced a good crop of prothalli from the 

 aposporous tips : there were, of course, no sori or pseudo- 

 sori. The frond was well washed in running tap water to 

 get rid of any possibly adhering spores, and the glass dish 

 was closely covered to exclude stray floating spores, In 

 191 2 some half-dozen small and feeble fronds appeared, 

 but most of them seemed too weak to make plants, and only 

 two survived. These two plants have been cared for 

 secundum artem, but developed very slowly and weakly. 

 It was not until the present year (1916) that their 

 character could be made out, and then, to my great 

 surprise, they turned out to be pevcvistatums, although 

 not quite like any recognized form of that variety. It 

 will, of course, be said that they were from stray spores,, 

 and I agree that it is impossible quite to exclude that 

 hypothesis. Against it, however, are the following con- 

 siderations : — 



(a) I have only one percristatum in my collection, viz. 

 Moly's, and the youngsters are quite different from 

 that beautiful form. Moreover, no other seedling 

 of that or any other percristate form has ever 

 appeared, either as a stray or otherwise, in my 

 fernery. 

 (I?) Had these plants been stray seedlings one would 

 have expected them to grow with the normal 

 vigour of seedlings. Instead of this they behaved 

 just like Polystichums raised by apospory generally 

 do, i.e. they grew very slowly and feebly, and were 

 with great difficulty kept alive. Stray sporelings in» 

 a pot of aposporous prothalli can generally be 



