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and their allies, and last, but by no means least, the 

 immense family of the Fungi or Mushroom tribe. The 

 study of evolutionary science has taught us that despite 

 the fairly distinct line drawn between seed-bearers and 

 spore-bearers, there is no doubt that in the far distant past 

 the former were evolved from the latter and certain links 

 between the two still survive. Thus, in the Maidenhair 

 tree [Salishuria adiantifolia), a true flowering tree, indistin- 

 guishable at a distance from full-sized ordinary trees, we 

 find leaves perfectly constructed on the lines of the 

 Maidenhair Fern, and it has furthermore been demonstrated 

 by Japanese botanists that the fertilization of its seed is 

 effected in a sort of half-way fashion between that of Ferns 

 and flowering plants. 



The Cycads {Cycas revolnta, etc.), like leathery-fronded 

 Ferns, form another link in the same way, and in many of 

 our Conifers or Fir trees, the strong resemblance to the 

 Selaginella tribe in the formation of their foliage, indicates 

 a further affinity of origin. Before proceeding to consider 

 another link of importance in this connection, we must 

 explain the difference between the processes of reproduction 

 through the spore and through the seed. Seeds as we 

 know vary greatly in size, from extremely small ones like 

 those of the Poppy or Lobelia up to huge ones, as big as a 

 man's head, in the Cocoa Nuts. One and all, however, 

 agree in consisting of a shell, containing a mass of nutri- 

 ment in the shape of one or two condensed leaves called 

 cotyledons and a germinal point consisting of a rudi- 

 mentary root and centre of growth. At this point lies the 

 vital centre of the future plant formed by the union of the 

 two parental influences originally contained, one in a cell 

 of the embryo seed of the mother plant and one in the 

 pollen grain which fertilized this seed, and without which 

 the seed would have perished but with which it grew and 

 developed into a perfect seed, as above described. If now 

 we place this seed in the soil under congenial conditions it 

 Avill in due course absorb moisture and swell, and the vital 



