THE induction of outgrowths of gametophytic tissue from the sporophyte in mosses has been accomplished many times since Pringsheim1 first reported it. In the ferns, the aposporous production of fully sexual gametophytes from genetically normal sporophytes has been considered to occur less readily. Although various forms of apospory in a number of ferns have been reported by Goebel2 and others, the only well-investigated example of its induction and consequences is in Osmunda, where apospory was induced by continued maltreatment and malnutrition of the sporeling3.