Mrs. Pistillid is only a nest, with a little egg hidden at the bottom. Mr. 

 Antherid is a sort of pimple. You may see the egg by looking into the nest ; 

 but when you east your eyes upon the pimple you will probably see nothing except 

 a netted surface. 13ut if you squeeze it, out come little transparent bags, in each 

 of which is rolled up spirally a sort of vegetable worm. In time, the worm un- 

 coils, gets out of his bag and shows himself. In Fig. 4 he is seen half extricated ; 

 Fig. 5 you have him wriggling about. And a very surprising fellow he is with a 

 tail like a corkscrew, and a head furnished with a bristly beard. 



When the worm aforesaid sets out upon his travels, he moves over the surface 

 of the fern-scale in search of a nest (pistillid), and when he finds one he gets in if 

 he can ; at least so says Count Suminski. That feat being accomplished, a won- 

 drous change takes place. The egg grows up into a perfect fern-leaf; at the 

 same time the green beginning shrivels and disappears. When a start has once 

 been made, the leaf becomes longer and longer, and broader and broader, another 

 leaf unfolds from its bosom, in its turn to give Ijirth to more, till at last all are 

 old enough to bear brown grains upon their back or edge. And then the destiny 

 of the fern is accomplished. 



It is out of one of these grains that the seed falls, which sprouts into new 

 beginning such as I have first described (Fig. 1). 



Is all this really true ? A good deal of it certainly is. Acute observers, since 

 Surainski's time, have so far verified his statements that no doubt exists about the 

 antherids, and the pistillids, and the crawling vegetable worms, and the uprising 

 of a perfect fern-leaf from the nest-like pistillid. Such things are, however, 

 extremely difficult to see, and can only be witnessed by well-trained eyes, armed 

 with well-made achromatic microscopes, in the hands of dexterous observers. 

 They must be taken on trust, as are mountains in the moon, by those who have 

 no telescopes. What is really doubtful is, whether the worm crawls into the 

 nest, and how it gets there. Men, however, have come to believe in the pheno- 

 menon ; and we cannot contradict them, for it is hard to prove a negative. 



And these are what are now called the sexes of ferns. — R. E., in Gardeners^ 

 Clironicle. 



AN OCTAGON HOUSE. 



Mr. Editor. — Dear Sir : Can you give me any information in regard to an octa- 

 gon cottage or villa ? Have you ever seen one ? How does it answer the expecta- 

 tions of the occupant ? And where is it ? are three questions I would much like 

 to have answered. In Yol. 4, p. 616, May, 1850, of the Horticulturist, I find a 

 plan that seems to combine almost everything that taste and convenience can 

 desire ; and to such a degree, that I am perplexed to understand why houses of 

 this kind are not common with us. Is there some difficulty not apparent in the 

 plan ? And will anyone let us into the secret ? I have heard the remark, "that 

 no man who builds one octagon house will ever build another," but the reason of 

 it I cannot learn. Respectfully yours, 



M. P., Sing Sing,N. Y. 



Our correspondent wishes us to give him some light upon the subject of octagon 

 houses, and the reason for the remark, that "no one who has built an octagon 

 bouse will ever build another." The objections to this description of house are 

 three : 1. The poor architectural appearance. 2. The inconvenience of the 

 "conveniences." 3. That the superior cheapness of this description of house is 

 not so great as it has been made out to be. Mr. Page, the author of the pi 

 which will be found in the ^Nlay (1850) number of this magazine, has, however 



