PLANT VARIATION UNDER WILD CONDITIONS. 



425 



over large areas, and often in very unfrequented spots and places not easy 

 of access. The difficulty of finding an abnormal specimen is therefore 

 great, and demands the expenditure of much time and perseverance as 

 well as travel. Another point is that the large majority of cultivated 

 plants are already variants, so that there is an element of instability in 

 their offspring which is well known to be apt to lead to the appearance of 

 further modifications of the type. This tendency, however, must not be 

 imputed to culture, since, as we shall see, it is just as inherent in wild 

 "sports," and is simply an exemplification of the general rule that once 

 a plant has broken away from the normal leading-strings as it were, i.e. 

 has adopted an abnormal habit, its offspring are liable to vary still more, 

 culture or no culture, though under culture those forms which thus 

 originate, and which would possibly be too heavily handicapped to survive 

 in the natural struggle for existence, are assisted by the cultivator, and thus 

 artificially swell the number of his acquisitions. 



Let us, however, now turn to the evidence afforded by Fern "sports" in 

 support of the first clause of my theory. The latest published record of wild 

 finds is that of Mr. E. J. Lowe, F.R.S. (' British Ferns and Where Found,' 

 1891). This record contains a descriptive list of distinctly characterised 

 and constant " sports " either found wild or subsequently raised under cul- 

 ture from such finds up to the date cited. A considerable number of Fern- 

 hunters and Fern-raisers appear in the list, and the latter for several decades 

 have devoted their special attention to sowing the spores of the best wild finds 

 with a view to improvement or extension of the type. We have therefore 

 to deal with both classes of forms, viz. the original wild types and their 

 descendants under culture ; and what is the result ? A careful analysis 

 shows that out of 2,090 varieties named and described, no less than 1,360 

 were found wild, and 730 raised under culture.* Could any possible 

 argument in favour of my theory be stronger or better substantiated ? 

 Nor must it be assumed for a moment that these numbers are exhaustive, 

 especially of the wild varieties. The connoisseurs among Fern-hunters 

 ignore innumerable forms which they regard as devoid of merit, but 

 which nevertheless, from the point of view of permanent abnormality, are 

 botanically as interesting as the elite. 



So much, then, for proportionate variability under the two conditions. 

 Now as regards the second clause, relating to change of environment 

 and response to altered conditions, as the cause of variation. The great 

 majority of the wild " sports " have been found growing under precisely 

 the same conditions as the myriads of normal plants of the same species 

 with which they are often intermingled, so that their very roots have to 

 be disentangled from those of their normal neighbours. Hence their 

 environment must be identical. Furthermore, they are found on rugged 

 hillsides, on unfrequented moors, in deep ravines, &c, where obviously 

 the same environment must have existed for ages, and yet the "find" 

 may be of extremely abnormal type. How is it possible here to impute 

 the variation to any change or any response to environmental impulse ? 

 How they originate we simply do not know, whether by bud " sport " or spore 

 " sport " we cannot determine. Nevertheless, the subtle change introduced 



* For full analysis of lists, see Gardeners' Chronicle, Dec. 19, 1903, " Variation 

 Wild and Cultural." 



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