438 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



The MarattiacecB are seldom propagated by means of spores, although these 

 are abundantly produced, for they are said to germinate with difficulty ; our 

 own experience points that way, as we have only once succeeded in getting 

 some to germinate, notwithstanding that they have been sown in all possible 

 states and under various conditions. The only instance of these plants having 

 been propagated from spores, which has come to our knowledge, is that of 

 Mons. C. Loury, Chef de Cultures at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, who, in 

 1887, succeeded in raising young plants of M. Kaulfussli, the two-year-old 

 subjects being already, when we saw them at that age in 1889, of comparatively 

 large dimensions. Since the publication of the part bearing on Angiopteris 

 (Vol. I., p. 398), we have ascertained that the same cultivator also raised 

 A. evecta from spores. In a personal letter relating to the subject, he states 

 that these were fifteen months before showing any signs of germination, but 

 that when once started the prothaUi rapidly acqmred extraordinary dimensions, 

 and that, on account of their great size and of the conspicuously undulated 

 character of their edges, these were easily detected among other prothaUi of 

 different species of Ferns. Mons. Guignard, Professeur a I'Ecole Superieure 

 de Pharmacie de Paris, to whom some of these most interesting subjects were 

 handed for scientific examination, states that these organs, comparatively to 

 those of other kinds of Ferns, are much developed, and sends us a sketch of 

 a prothallus, natural size, measuring, lin. in length, Jin. in breadth, and 

 showing a conspicuous depression of both margins in its centre. 



Marattias are • usually and readily increased by laying the basal scales 

 of the fronds on a bed of constantly moist material, such as sphagnum moss, 

 where they will be found to emit roots most freely, and to produce on 

 each side of the scales little bulbous growths, which later on develop into 

 plants similar to the parents. 



Principal Species and Varieties. 



M. (Gymnotheca) alata— Grym-noth-e'-ca ; al-a'-ta (winged). Smith. 



This is a species of highly ornamental habit and strikingly distinct 

 characters, native of the West Indies, Mexico, and Guatemala. Its magnificent 

 fronds, 3ft. to 4ft. long and tripinnatifid (three times divided nearly to the 

 midrib), are borne on robust stalks Ift. to 2ft. long, lin. or more thick, of 



