M. Miiller on the Development of the Lycopodiacese. 33 



that the membrane upon which the cells are deposited are coloured 

 blue by iodine, while the rest of the surface becomes brown. It 

 is consequently partly altered chemically and indeed into a sub- 

 stance containing starch. It is thus qualified for its further ex- 

 tension, since being more porous than the rest of the membrane 

 it can more readily acquire new parts by interstitial deposition. 

 The cells apply themselves so firmly upon this spot, that they 

 appear to grow together with the inner membrane. 



Lastly, the firm outer spore-membrane is broken through, 

 since the bud grows out from the interior of the spore in the 

 form of a blunt, rounded cone. I distinguish it here by the 

 name germ {Keimkorper) . Its cells are yet quite white and 

 transparent. The place however where the outer spore-mem- 

 brane opens, is, according to Bischofi*, always where the three 

 elevated ridges meet, consequently at the point of union of the 

 three triangular faces of the spore. 



At this period the process of germination begins to be visible 

 externally. But the whole of the contents of the spore are not 

 yet by any means transformed into cells ; on the contrary, the 

 " germ '^ is yet of very small circumference, and more or less 

 truncated at its base in the interior (PI. II. fig. 4 b). 



If the spore-membrane is first ruptured and the primary germ 

 drawn out, it exhibits a growth in two opposite directions. 

 One indicates the formation of the stem and the foliaceous or- 

 gans, the other the formation of a rootlet. The former appear 

 in the shape of an ovate mass, the latter as a little cone. Both 

 stand quite upright upon the perpendicular spore (PI. II. fig. I). 

 Subsequently they both are curved into a much more horizontal 

 direction, so that, since the stem and root come to be placed ex- 

 actly on a level, the spore becomes transposed into a horizontal 

 position (PI. II. figs. 5, II, 13, 15 — 19). This position only 

 alters, if the elongating stem subsequently becomes irregularly 

 curved. 



If we now examine more closely the whole development, we 

 have here to consider four masses visibly distinct from each 

 other: I. the germ-, 2. the rootlets , 3. the stem, and 4. the ter- 

 minal bud, which organs will be treated of in the following para- 

 graphs. 



§ 4. The Germinating Plant. 



1. The germ {Keimkorper). This body is composed of an 

 assemblage of very small, parenchymatous and transparent cells, 

 rising to the height of a few lines above the spore, and is here 

 provided with many little radicle fibrils which are merely 

 elongated cells of the outer surface (PI. II. fig. 1). Within the 

 spore, its base is truncated (fig. 4), and it does not become per- 



Ann.^ Mag. N. Hist, Fo/. xix. 3 



