— iog — 



presumed hard and fast line in the life of a fern lias been broken 

 through; every link in the chain has been found capable of elimi- 

 nation. Spore, prothallus, archegonia, antheridia and antherozoids 

 and even the frond itself has been "jumped," as it were, the last 

 elision constituting the climax since the production of spores on 

 the prothallus itself (discovered by Mr. Lang in cultures from 

 spores of two species from my collection) carries the fern back 

 to the tiny marchantioid phase which possibly represents the 

 alpha of fern evolution. From these facts we perceive that 

 variety hunting is not onl}' a legitimate sequence of species hunt- 

 ing but is also fraught with scientific interest. Personally, I have 

 no doubt whatever that the cult in the United States will follow 

 the same course, but it will have the advantage if it will only 

 profit by it, as I hope it will, of the recorded knowledge obtained 

 on this side, and the greater readiness of the biologist to recognize 

 the possibility of new lessons being derived from new dis- 

 coveries. 



So much for the status of the wild fern and its scientific 

 value. Having given these first place I would emphasize the 

 greater beauty and charm which many of these forms possess 

 over the normal, and in addition their capacity in most cases of 

 even greater improvement by subsequent selection and crossing. 

 No one who has not visited a choice collection of these abnormal 

 forms could conceive to what extent they are capable of develop- 

 ment and into what a range of size they can vary, from giant 

 through the normal to the dwarf. I have in sight as I write a 

 range of plumose Athyria, with quinquepinnate fronds over four 

 feet high in a dozen quite distinct forms, some tasselled to the 

 fourth degree, and as a contrast a row of thumb pots freely ac- 

 commodating a set of dwarf gems of the same species of hardly 

 as many inches ; one is like a mass of superfine Selaginella 

 apoda, another bristles with excurrent mid-ribs, like tiny thorns, 

 another is a perfect rosette of dense congested fronds, three 

 inches long and so on. These represent the cultural results, but 

 the wild parents of every one was far advanced on like lines when 

 found, and I do not know of a single marked and original type 

 which was not first, so to speak, invented by unaided nature. All 

 that man can do is to find such inventions (special creations, I call 

 them) and work them up. 



