THE WONDERS OF THE SPORE. 
43 
will speedily bring matters to a crisis, and lead to tbe young 
plants appearing. 
Should Fungi appear, or worms get in, it is well to prick 
out sound patches of the prothalli at once into other pans 
prepared as already indicated; with care, this can be done at 
any stage of development. 
In selecting spores for sowing, not only should the best 
varieties be selected, but also the best and most characteristic 
portions of the fronds should be sown from. Thus, if a good 
crested form is in question, and heavier cresting aimed at, the 
spores should be taken from the heaviest crest itself, if possible. 
Some very fine and constant forms have been raised from spores 
taken from plants which only showed a trace of variation in 
one small subdivision of a frond, the spores upon which pro- 
duced plants so characterised throughout. 
As it is very difficult for the beginner to realise that an 
insignificant-looking patch of spores, no larger than a small 
pin’s head, will produce many more plants than he is likely 
to be able to accommodate, a word of warning as to sowing 
too thickly will not be amiss. The best plan is to put a 
very small pinch of spore-dust under a good microscope, which 
will resolve it into the equivalent of a peck or so of fair-sized 
seed, and thus bring home to him tangibly the extent of the 
crop he is likely to reap. 
Hybridisation. 
Although, owing to the minute nature of the phenomena, 
this can hardly be effected systematically, as with the fiowering 
plants, yet the sowing of spores of several varieties together 
results sufficiently often in offspring of mixed characteristics 
to show that crossing does take place. This fact, therefore, 
may be borne in mind with advantage, and give additional 
interest to this method of propagation. 
Colonel Jones, of Clifton, Mr. Clapham, Mr. Lowe, and others 
who have directed their attention specially to this, have suc- 
ceeded over and over again in their well-defined aim at 
