APPENDIX. 
*33 
majority, and so the government is apt, as it were, to be caught 
napping and to be occasionally outvoted. Sometimes this defeat 
is so humiliating that the government resigns and the opposition 
takes office, that is to say, the Fern reverts entirely to the normal 
form. It is probable, however, that if we sowed spores from 
these reverted plants we should get fresh reducing divisions and 
recombinations, in some of which the advanced party would again 
gain the majority and again take on the reins of government. I 
am not aware that this has been done in this particular case, 
because Fern growers as a rule prefer to sow from their best plants 
and not from their worst. From the biological point of view, and 
for scientific reasons, however, it would be well worth while to 
occasionally sow from reverted forms and record the results. 
If I have not yet quite exhausted your patience there is one 
other matter to which I should like to refer. There is a prevailing 
impression among Fern growers that if we sow spores from 
characteristic parts of a plant, we are more likely to get improved 
forms than if we sow from parts which bear the particular character 
in a less degree, or not at all. It is a common practice, for 
instance, to take the spores from crested tips of fronds and pinn^, 
in the hope of getting improved crested forms in the offspring. 1 
may say at once that this idea and practice does not fit in at 
all with Weismann’s theory. According to Weismann, the germ 
plasm is the same in all parts of the plant, and we are therefore 
just as likely to get true seedlings of A. f. f. kalothrix by sowing 
from the worst fronds as by sowing from the best. This point can 
only be determined by a large number of impartial experiments, 
instituted for the express purpose of finding out the truth, and not 
for the purpose of either raising stock of good Ferns, or of 
confirming our preconceived notions. For my own part, I have 
never satisfied myself that there was anything to be gained by 
sowing from particular parts of a frond, and I am certain that it 
is quite possible to obtain characteristic seedlings of a variety by 
sowing from parts of the frond which do not bear the particular 
character in question. 
There are many other questions connected with this subject 
into which I might enter — in fact, I might go on all day and all 
night too — but I fear I have already trespassed too much upon 
your patience. 1 have, however, given you the key and shown 
you how it is to be used. You can now proceed to work out 
problems for yourselves. If in another century it should be found 
that Weismann’s theory will fit all the known facts, it will have 
a good chance of being accepted. If, on the other hand, it should 
be found that large masses of fact are inconsistent with it, then 
it must go where many other plausible theories have preceded it 
- — into oblivion. 
