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THE FERN BULLETIN 



States, but there seems to be no reason why it cannot 

 be widely propagated. Apparently it cannot endure 

 the Northern winter, but in the South it is one of the 

 most abundant of plants. In many of the bayous 

 along the Mississippi it completely covers the water, 

 and R. S. Cocks has noted in this magazine that it 

 frequently becomes so abundant in small ponds as to 

 be a veritable pest and has to be carried off by the 

 cartload. In the northern States the difficulty will 

 be to make it grow in sufficient luxuriance to be ef- 

 fective. It will doubtless have to be started anew, 

 each year. It is a handsome little plant and an addi- 

 tion to any water scenery. 



Apospory in Ferxs. — Apospory as all who have 

 studied ferns in school are aware, is the production of 

 a prothallus or gametphyte without the intervention of 

 a spore. In ferns reproduced by apospory, a new pro- 

 thallium grows on the frond where the sporangia nor- 

 mally occur. A sort of converse of this is also found 

 in ferns, where the new fern is produced from the pro- 

 thallium without the union of sperm and eggs. This is 

 called apogamy. Apogamy has been known for a long 

 time, but the discovery of apospory was more recent 

 and due to the efforts of Mr. C. T. Druery, editor of 

 the British Fern Gazette. In that publication for June 

 1910, an account of the discovery is given, together 

 with a list of the species in which it is known to occur. 

 It may be said by way of explanation that apospory 

 does not occur in normal ferns. It seems to be occas- 

 ioned by the efforts the abnormal specimens make in 

 order to adjust themselves to the conditions in which 

 they find themselves. The first evidence of apospory 

 was found in a form of Athyrium filix-foemina but 

 the phenomenon has since been noted in forms of 



