®n: \\t nefolg-Mstciteeir ^^enffmeiwii of 
^psprg in J'eriis. 
By CHARLES T. DRUERY, F.L.S. 
I HAVE been invited to address you this evening with the 
object of bringing before your notice certain new phenomena 
of reproduction which have been recently discovered upon two of 
our native British ferns. My personal observations, however, 
relate more especially to one of these ferns, viz., Athyrium 
Filix-fcemina, var. Clarissima, an exceedingly beautiful variety 
found growing wild in North Devon, for whose present existence 
we are indebted to Colonel Jones, of Clifton, who detected its 
beauty under very adverse circumstances, and saved it from 
destruction, to which it had been doomed by the neglect of the 
original finder. 
Before, however, I proceed to explain to you the nature of 
the phenomena in question, I will make a few preliminary 
remarks elucidating the normal mode of reproduction in ferns, 
since to those who have not made a special study of the subject 
the peculiar interest attaching to the abnormal method dis- 
covered in connection with the Athyrium in question may quite 
possibly be missed, while those who have acquired a knowledge 
of the various ways in which ferns propagate themselves will, I 
am sure, pardon the little delay which my remarks will necessitate. 
In the first place, I may indicate the great difference which 
exists between the reproductive phenomena common to the 
Q 
