196 Mr J. Scott on the Sexuality of the Higher Cryptogams, 



Mr Moore informs me by letter that he is inclined to agree 

 with Braun in uniting under 8. Martensii the forms he has 

 so placed ; and furthermore, considers that the seedling 

 form which I have raised goes to confirm this view, by 

 showing that varying forms are capable of being produced 

 from the spores ; that, in fact, so far as he could judge 

 from the pressed specimen (which I sent him for examina- 

 tion), I had merely produced 8. M. normale from the 8. M. 

 compacta. Mr Moore continues, however, that in plants so 

 peculiar as these Lycopods, a good deal of their natural 

 appearance is lost under pressure. In the present instance, 

 the Society will observe, by a comparison of the hybrid 

 and parent plants with the pressed specimens upon the 

 table, the truth of Mr Moore's remarks, as respects the 

 afiinities in judging from the dried specimens alone, and, 

 moreover, the need for that express reservation added to the 

 above view, inasmuch as it is at once obvious by a com- 

 parison of the living plants, that though nearer 8. Mar- 

 tensii in the characters of the leaves, it — the hybrid — 

 has much more affinity with 8. Danielsiana in its general 

 habit. 



In consequence, then, of this view of Braun and Moore, 

 respecting the conspecificness of the parent forms, I can 

 only give a provisional significance to the hybridity of 

 my seedling ; satisfied, however, that even by an ultimate 

 agreement amongst systematists as to the genetic affini- 

 ties of the parent forms, it will simply cause a substitution 

 of the term " mongrel," for that of " hybrid," at present 

 given. And thus, that in either case, it will afford a stronger 

 argument in support of the sexuality of the higher crypto- 

 gams than any, so far as I am aware, which has yet been 

 recorded.* 



On the supposition, however, that Braun has rightly re- 

 garded the parent forms of my seedling as conspecific, it may 



* Mr Moore, in answer to a query as to the occurrence of undoubted hybrids 

 amongst the above plants, writes me as follows : — " I am not aware of any well 

 authenticated instances of hybridization among Cryptogams. I have always 

 regarded the varieties of Gymnogrammas (which do sometimes present an ap- 

 pearance intermediate between two known sorts) as sports — chiefly, however, 

 from the want of any direct evidence of hybridity." 



