FERNS 



is effected, and the egg-cell becomes a spore that 

 will, on development, produce a fern. 



Thus, to put the matter briefly, the spores that 

 fall from the familiar spore-cases attached to the 

 fronds of the fern, give origin to a prothallus 

 whose function is that of producing and maturing 

 the sexual parts ; fertilisation results in the forma- 

 tion of a spore-body which, by division of its 

 cells, gives birth to the fern plant. The prothallus 

 supports the young fern until it has a tiny frond 

 and roots of its own. In Fig. 119 (Plate S^) is 

 shown some ^^ seedling " ferns bearing their first 

 frond and while still attached to their prothalli. 



How different are the marriage methods of the 

 humble Cryptogams, or Flowerless plants, fiom 

 those that have been described in the highly- 

 developed Phanerogams or Flowering plants ! 

 Yet in that remote period of the earth's history 

 which the geologist terms the ^^ Carboniferous 

 Age," these Flowerless plants were the dominating 

 form of vegetation, just as Flowering plants are in 

 the present day. Twice as many species have 

 been found preserved in the English Coal Measures 

 as can now be found living in the whole of Europe. 

 Once the ferns formed a great race in the plant 

 world, and many of their species reached gigantic 

 proportions ; but to-day they are a decaying family, 

 a family that has lost heavily in the struggle for 

 existence, and has been driven from the best 

 situations in the sunlight to the shaded woods and 

 secluded spots which the higher and better de- 

 veloped plants now scorn. 



197 



