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centre aforesaid being excited into activity the husk will 

 be burst, the root grow and protrude and presently the one 

 or two cotyledons will emerge and the young plant start 

 existence. A spore, on the other hand, is not the result of 

 a previous fertilization, it is a mere microscopic cell 

 enclosed in a husk without any provision of nutriment in 

 the shape of embryo leaves or any definite centre of 

 vitality beyond that of the nucleus common to all living 

 cells. Such a spore falling on a congenial spot swells and 

 bursts its husk in the same way as a seed, but in the 

 case of the fungi, instead of producing a fungus like that 

 from which it was shed, it merely multiplies itself, the 

 resulting cells absorbing nutriment from the material they 

 rest upon and forming a rambling network called the 

 mycelium, from which eventually spring spore-bearing fungi 

 once again. This, at any rate, is the process wath such 

 fungi as the Mushroom, of which the so-called " spawn " is 

 simply soil pervaded with the mycelium network described. 

 The fungus family, however, presents so many variants of 

 this process that we can merely cite one particular type to 

 demonstrate the principle involved. In the Fern spore, 

 however, we reach a higher plane of development, the true 

 nature of which was only grasped about sixty years ago, 

 and when grasped it was seen that it formed a distinct 

 evolutionary link, since before the young fern appeared, 

 not only was a seed formed but this seed exactly resembled 

 the seeds of recognized flowering plants by being the result 

 of fertilization though two distinct organs which were to 

 all intents and purposes male and female flowers. In 

 Ferns, the spore, instead of producing a wide-spreading 

 network or mycelium like the Mushroom, builds up a tiny 

 green heart-shaped scale attached to the soil by roothairs, 

 and on the under side of this embryo seeds are formed and 

 also a number of little sacs, which burst and throw out 

 motile bodies, the exact equivalent of pollen grains, which 

 find their way to the seed or seeds and fertilize them, upon 

 which they act precisely as flower seeds by producing a 



