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produces the first expanded frond. It is not always the first to 

 start that is the first at the goal. There are handicaps of soil, 

 location, moisture, sun and shade to be taken into consideration. 

 And given equal conditions, is the same species always first in 

 different localities ? We shall be glad to notice in this journal 

 any answers to these questions that may be sent us. 



The rarest things in the fern collector's herbarium 

 A NEGLECTED are specimens of the uncoiling fronds. We have 

 FEATURE yet to hear of the student who makes it a point to 



collect them, although the young fronds of each 

 species are quite as characteristic as anything else about the 

 plant. Could any one mistake the green claws of the bracken for 

 anything else ? The mature fronds frequently show few traces 

 of the hairs and scales that protect them through the winter, and 

 for this reason, if for no other, a collection of the budding fronds 

 would be especially valuable. 



. The subject of fern hybrids has occasioned much 

 HYBRID speculation and engendered many theories, but 

 FERNS has resulted in a very small amount of practical 

 work. A long series of experiments in England 

 has shown that varieties may be readily crossed, but this is to be 

 expected, especially in the case of ferns with dioecious prothalli. 

 It is only when we come to the crossing Of distinct species that 

 the scientist becomes interested. There are a few recorded cases 

 in which this has seemingly been accomplished with closely allied 

 species, but enough has not yet been done to either prove or dis- 

 prove the hybrid origin of such ferns as Asplenium Bradley/', 

 A. ibeywiiies, or the peculiar Dryopteris cristataxmarginalis. 

 Yet, if these are hybrids, how easily man. who can control all the 

 necessary conditions, should be able to produce them, when, de- 

 spite all untoward circumtances, the ferns can multiply naturally. 

 To place prothalli in the best position for crossing, ripe spores of 

 two species should be sown thickly together, and as old spores do 

 not germinate as soon as fresh ones, care should be taken to see 

 that spores of the same age are sown. It is to be supposed that 

 if the ferns hybridize freely in nature, such sowings would give 

 at least a few of the hybrids, and if numerous experiments of 

 this kind failed to produce a single cross, the fact that this is not 

 possible might almost be considered as proven. On the contrary, 



