to produce directly a root and leaf system without any 

 circumlocution whatever. The spore, on the other hand, 

 when it is sown simply germinates and produces a little 

 green heart-shaped scale (prothallus) closely attached to 

 the soil by a multitude of tiny root-hairs, and from this in 

 course of time a little fern rises, duly provided with root 

 and frond and capable of independent existence. This, 

 however, it has been shown, really springs from a properly 

 fertilized seed, and although the process is effected on such 

 a minute scale as to need a microscope to examine it, the 

 fertilization of this seed is effected in practically the same 

 way as that of the seed of a flower, the chief difference 

 being that the seed is embedded in the substance of the 

 scale, and germinates in situ instead of being detached and 

 shed to germinate elsewhere. If we reverse one of the 

 little scales aforesaid and examine it with a fairly good lens 

 we shall find on its under surface, like so many tiny pimples 

 scattered about among the root-hairs, a number of little 

 round projections (antheridia) and close to the indentation 

 of the heart on a sort of thickened cushion we shall see a 

 small cluster of larger and] longer hollow projections 

 (archegonia). At the base of each of these, deeply em- 

 bedded in the cushion aforesaid, is an embryo seed. At 

 the proper time, when under moist conditions the underside 

 of the scale is bathed in dewlike moisture, the little pimples 

 burst and send out a cloud of very minute organisms termed 

 antherozoids, which are provided with movable hairs or 

 cilia, by means of which they swim actively about in the 

 water and make their way towards the cluster of larger pro- 

 jections, traversing which they fertilize the seed at their base, 

 precisely in the same way as pollen fertilizes the seed of 

 flowering plants. This done, the seed perfects itself, and 

 eventually breaking through the lower part of the cushion 

 roots into the soil and sends up its first frond with a bud at 

 its base, and in this way a second generation of Ferns is 

 produced. From this it is seen that, after all, flowers are 

 practically borne by Ferns, but on a microscopic scale. 

 We may also gain a practical lesson from this, as it shews 



