////•: I'HYsiOLoay oi- ri.Axrs 2i)i 



on a clcca)'ccl pear or apple a patch of brDwn 

 tnould Onucorj. If we examine it with a lens wc 

 see a little forest of tin\' erect stalks, and upon the 

 apex of each is a round hall containiiiLj reproduc- 

 tive cells, each of these, wliich are called spores fthe 

 sjiore-case bein^ called the sporani^ium , contains 

 protoplasm, which is endowed with the power of 

 giving rise to a new individual mould. 



This process is t)'pical of what is commcjn to 

 ferns, and man\' other cr)'ptogamic jilants, and is 

 called asiwiail ri'productio)i. 



The second form is that in which two such 

 spore-like organs as we have noticed in the mould, 

 fuse together and form a spore capable of giving 

 rise to a new plant. 



This is known as sexual jr/^nuhic/ion, and is 

 de[KMident upon the fact that the protoplasm of 

 either of the two organs is incapable of 

 giving rise to a new indi\idual plant, and that 

 they must come in contact and fuse organicail}- 

 before a new plant can be formed. This process 

 of fusion I ha\e in an earlier chapter described as 

 fertilisation. The pollen grain, the fertilising 

 agent, is one of the reproductive cells, and the 



