Mr. A. Henfrey on the Progress of Physiological Botany. 339 
permission. The natives said the egg was found in the jungle, 
and observed that such eggs were very very rarely met with, and 
that the bird which produces them is still more rarely seen.” 
The value of such a statement of course depends on the cha- 
racter of the narrator, and on this head Mr. Joliffe observes— 
“M. Dumarele is a French merchant of Bourbon, a very re- 
spectable gentlemanly man, about sixty years of age, who has 
for years been trading with his own vessels along the coasts of 
Madagascar, and is well-acquainted with the different races of 
natives and with the resources of the country. His very un- 
assuming and quiet manner, and intelligent conversation, much 
prepossessed us in his favour, and we believed everything he 
told us to be worthy of credit as far as his judgement and good 
intention went.” 
Mr. Joliffe’s own opinion seems to be, that M. Dumarele was 
imposed upon in some way by the roguery of the natives. He 
judiciously adds however—“ M. Dumarele’s story should not be 
despised or discredited in these times, when such extraordinary 
discoveries are constantly made in every branch of science, but 
publicity should be given to his statement, that persons visiting 
Madagascar may, if possible, coliect fresh information on the 
subject, and clear up the mystery. The sight of one sound egg 
would be worth a thousand theories.” 
It is a singular circumstance, if nothing more, that Marco 
Polo refers the Roc, of Arabian-Night celebrity, to the island of 
Madagascar ; but as the Roc, however gigantic, was decidedly not 
brevipennate, a discussion of its history would be irrelevant to 
our present subject. 
XXXVI.—Reports on the Progress of Physiological Botany. 
No. 5. By Arruur Henrrey, F.L.S. &c. 
On the Phenomena accompanying the Germination of the Spores 
of Ferns. 
In the year 1842, Nageli discovered on the pro-embryo (the cel- 
lular expansion fruit produced from the spore in germination) of 
Ferns, peculiar organs which he considered to be analogous to 
the antheridia of the other Cryptogamic plants. 
In the account he published of these structures* he describes 
them as gland-lke organs growing on the under surface, near 
the margin, very rarely upon the upper surface. They frequently 
appear as if composed of a single cell; but it may mostly be 
* Bewegliche Spiral-faden (Saamenfaden?) an Farren; Schleiden und 
Nageli’s Zeitschr. fiir Wiss. Botanik, Heft i. 168. Ziirich, 1844. 
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