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the hope that other more satisfactory specimens may be 
found in the district of the Axe. As to the Polypodies and 
Hart’s-tongues, some may also object to their being con- 
sidered varieties, inasmuch as only a single plant here and 
there can be found out of a vast number which departs from 
the regular form. It may be very properly asserted, that 
these are monstrosities, not varieties. If, however, we cast 
away all monstrosities and deem them not worthy our con- 
sideration, our gardens and our shrubberies would lose 
much of their beauty and elegance. What is it that makes 
the borders and parterres of our nobility and gentry appear 
so lovely ? Por what are handsome prizes offered at our 
Ploricultural and Horticultural Meetings ? What is it that 
the nurseryman and gardener strive to produce by dint of 
the most skilful cultivation ? Monstrosities. The single 
rose and stock is nature’s production ; the double rose and 
double stock are monstrosities, deviations from nature’s 
ordinary course. If the matter be considered in a scientific 
point of view, very few that have been mentioned are vari- 
eties. Not one of the forms of the Hart’s-tongue deserves 
the name, much less are they species, as the nursery garden- 
ers call them. They are rather monstrous and unnatural 
appearances. We do not find a large group assimilating to 
the typical form, as in the varieties of the Male Pern, Lady 
Pern, &c., but sometimes we shall find one plant here and 
there surrounded by Hart’s-tongues of the ordinary charac- 
ter, with one frond or all its fronds assuming a grotesque 
appearance. If we meet with one man in England, and 
another in India, seven feet and a half high, and with a 
dwarf in like manner as short as Tom Thumb, we would not 
consider them a variety of the species man, but as an extra- 
ordinary appearance, some lusus naturce, some deviation 
from the usual course of things. Moore says, “ That most 
of these monstrosities are produced from spores (seeds).” 
W e know that in the productions of nature there is always 
a tendency for the ofispring to represent its sire. A tall 
father has frequently a tall son. The Insurance companies 
are generally averse to insure a person’s life when the father 
or mother has died of consumption. Why is this ? Because 
they consider that the child’s constitution will resemble that 
of the parent. In like manner, it is not surprising if a plant 
