BRITISH FERNS AND THEIR WILD SPORTS. 



77 



BRITISH FERNS AND THEIR WILD SPORTS. 

 By C. T. Druery, V.M.H., F.L.S. 



[Lecture given on August 1, 1905.] 



On a former occasion when I gave a lecture on our native ferns in the 

 Drill Hall I treated the subject in a general fashion, giving by lantern 

 slides an imaginary glimpse of the dense forests of ferns and their allies, 

 which in ages inconceivably distant built up the coal measures which now 

 form one of the main staples of Britain's prosperity ; passing thence 

 I went on to the details of their reproductive peculiarities and marvels, 

 including the latest discoveries of the abnormalities which occur therein 

 and concluding with a series of slides illustrating a number of natural 

 ''sports" and their progeny as improved in type by selection. To-day 

 I purpose confining myself mainly to these natural sports with a view 

 to impressing upon my hearers four things, viz. : 



1. The lcng-standing botanical absurdity of classing all marked and 

 ornamental fern varieties as " garden " forms and therefore unworthy of 

 observation. 



2. The peculiar richness of the British Isles in natural, i.e. wild 

 sports, of extremely divergent character and often of great beauty. 



3. The unfounded nature of theories that cultivation is the main 

 essential in variation in this class, and that these sports are induced by 

 any response to environmental influences. 



4. The fact that, after a long period of neglect by the botanist proper, 

 it is now recognised in some of the highest quarters that this particular 

 domain of natural variation constitutes a rich field of research, as is 

 evidenced by the numerous papers contributed in the first place by 

 Prof. Bower, Dr. Lang, and myself, and more recently by Prof. Farmer 

 and Mr. Moore, whose researches have even demonstrated that the study 

 of abnormal fern phenomena may contribute to the benefit of humanity 

 by the discovery of a singular physiological resemblance between the 

 abnormally reproductive cell-growth of aposporous ferns and that of the 

 dreadful disease cancer, which is an undoubted step in the recognition of 

 the true nature of the latter. 



Finally, in this connection, Prof. Hugo de Vries's recent publication 

 on the Theory of Mutation tends to prove what I have long believed to 

 be the case, viz. that such sports may have played an important role 

 in the evolution of the species. The limited time at my command 

 precludes me from entering into many details establishing these several 

 points, and it will furthermore make matters clearer if I start at once 

 with the lantern slides and use these various points as the basis of 

 my remarks upon the specimens exhibited, reserving to myself to bring 

 those remarks together subsequently in a more concrete form for the 

 full report of the lecture in the Society's Journal. 



