496 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



his book as a standard of comparison for the added names pub- 

 lished by Fraser, and any that have not been put into print which 

 he thinks worth mention. Unless this is done by someone 

 who, like himself and Mr. Wollaston, understands the matter 

 thoroughly, it will have to be done in a few years' time by some- 

 one very much less qualified for the work. 



" J. G. Baker. 



" Kew, July 23, 1890." 



WHICH ARE THE OLDEST FERNS? 

 By Professor Bower, D.Sc, F.L.S. 



To many who take an interest in their cultivation, and are the 

 most enthusiastic admirers of their beauty, Ferns are simply 

 Ferns, and their relation to other families of plants is a matter 

 of minor importance, or perhaps never considered. But to those 

 who pursue comparative morphology — and I believe that the 

 majority of Fern cultivators really fall into this category — it is 

 ever an object to trace evolutionary series within given groups of 

 organisms, in the expectation that this may lead to a better 

 recognition of the relation of the group in question to others. 

 And so with Ferns it should be our first object to lay them out 

 in such a series as we may believe to correspond more or less 

 nearly to the course of their evolution. 



It has been the result of my own comparative observations,, 

 extending over a considerable period, together with the facts 

 recorded by others, to demonstrate that such a series exists, and 

 the conclusions are enunciated at length in the " Annals of 

 Botany," vol. iii. Here it will suffice to state that by a com- 

 parison of the various parts of the Fern plant in the embryonic 

 condition — viz. of stems, leaves, wings of the leaf, roots, and 

 sporangia — it is possible to range the chief families of Ferns as a 

 series. At one end of this series would be placed those whose 

 several parts are of more complex construction, and from the 

 first relatively bulky, while at the other end would be those 

 which are of more simple construction and more delicate in 

 texture. 



