480 MB. C. T. DRTTEBY CS 



and the case, therefore, to which my present notes relate is new to 

 the extent (1) that not merely apical, but a sort of pan-apospory 

 has developed itself ; (2) that this has appeared upon a young 

 fern seedling only just emerged from the prothallus ; and, finally, 

 (3) that the fern is a Lastrea or Ne/plirodium, and therefore a dis- 

 tinct species from those already recorded as aposporous. 



On July 17, while seeking for bulbils upon a proliferous form 

 of Trichomanes radicans kept in a close Wardian case, my 

 attention was attracted by what I at first took for a prothallus 

 developed by a deposited spore upon the tip of a seedling-fern 

 frond near the edge of the pot, a not impossible occurrence, as 

 spores frequently germinate and attain the prothallus stage upon 

 the fronds of Todeas and other filmy ferns under very close con- 

 ditions of culture. The size of the prothallus, however, which 



was nearly fully grown, coupled with the extreme youth of the 

 frond which bore it, led to a closer examination ; and then I found 

 that it was an actual outgrowth of the frond itself, and that, 

 furthermore, it possessed a feature I had never observed in 

 apical prothalli before when attached to the frond and not 

 pegged down, viz. an abundant crop of root- hairs behind it. 

 These, presumably for lack of a suitable nidus, were brown and 



% 



partly shrivelled, but the prothallus itself was perfectly green 



and healthy, and clear indications of an incipient cushion were 



visible near the sinus by transmitted light. Antheridia were 



also sparsely visible, but no archegonia. On further examination, 



1 perceived that besides this terminal prothallus a number of 



rudimentary ones were projecting from the lateral edges of the 



pinnae, some of them bearing numerous root-hairs, while a bunch 



of root-hairs had also been developed behind the tip of one of the 



pinnae upon an irregular prothallic outgrowth. The frond upon 



which this aposporous development appeared was about f inch 



high, including the long stipes attaching it to the prothallus 



upon which it was engendered. A later frond had formed a similar 



stipes, and was just commencing to uncoil ; this, however, was in 



too incipient a state to show any trace of prothallic outgrowth. 



At the base the stump of a third stipes was visible, presumably 



that of the primary .frond thrown up by the prothallus, that 



bearing the secondary prothalli being distinctly pinnate, which 



is rarely the case with first fronds. 



Owing to the absence of the primary frond and the altogether 

 abnormal character imparted to the second one by its outgrowths, 



