38 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
importance in the performance of my official work, more especially 
on the show days. 
On the 18th of July I despatched to the Jardin des Plantes a 
collection of forty-two species of Orchids from the Society's collection. 
These, together with a collection from W. Marshall, Esq., reached 
Paris in good condition, and during the summer I had the satis- 
faction of personally seeing the appreciation in which they were 
held. Besides engaging in a considerable and increasing corre- 
spondence, I have detemined the names of 189 plants sent to me 
for that purpose. 
There is one point which I wish in conclusion to take this op- 
portunity of more especially urging. I am strongly impressed with 
the inequality in value of the certificates awarded by the Floral 
Committee. It appears to me that the enterprise and expense of 
introducing an important new plant into the country is ordinarily 
far greater than that involved in producing a new florist's variety 
of an old established species. I think, therefore, that the two 
classes of cultivated plants should receive different forms of certifi- 
cate. The number of First-class varieties of the Dahlia, for 
example, is endless. The result mfist be, I cannot but think, to 
reduce the value of the First-class Certificate. At any rate it must 
make such a distinction appear inadequate when a new plant of the 
importance of say PhalcBnopsis Schilleriana makes its appearance for 
the first time at the Society. 
W. T. THISELTON DYER. 
XI. On Fteris serrulato-tremula. By Thomas Moore, F.L.S., 
Floral Director to the Eoyal Horticultural Society. 
This very interesting greenhouse evergreen Fern, of which a 
figure representing the upper portion of a frond forms Plate V., 
sprang up about a couple of years since in one of the propagating- 
houses at the Chiswick garden, and is believed to be a hybrid 
between two well-known species, Fteris serrulata and P. tremula, 
which are very largely grown there for decorative purposes, on 
account of their free-growing and elegant character. In the earlier 
stages of development the fronds were so closely like those of F. 
serrulata that the plant was looked upon as a slight variation of 
