ON THE NARDOO PLANT OF AUSTRALIA. 165 
periodical but little devoted to natural history, and not easily accessible 
in this country, I have thought that this paper may be usefully con- : 
eluded by a short summary of Dr. Hanstein’s observations. 
Fig! 2 represents two of the fruits received by Dr. Hanstein, drawn 
to their natural size. 
© One of these fruits was slightly shaved at the edge and boiled for a 
quarter of an hour, after which it emitted a long transparent flexible 
string of cellular tissue of great elasticity. After some hours, this string 
attained a length of 110-120 mm. and a thickness of 4 mm. It bore 
seventeen spore-tubes arranged almost in pairs as in fig. 3. The 
elongated tubes were narrowed in a stalk-like manner at the points of 
attachment to the string and approximated to one another on their 
inner side, and each of them on their outer side (i. e. the side originally 
next to the spore-case) exhibited (like the string itself) a firm ridge 
resembling a midrib and formed of narrow elongated cells. Upon this 
midrib are seated the sporangia, which also have short stalks. The 
indusium of the sorus consists of a single layer of large tabular thin- 
walled cells. The cells of the worm-like string are roundish-oval. 
The sporangia (both those containing the large and those containing 
small spores) are sacs, formed of a simple very delicate cellular layer, 
which become rapidly disintegrated in water. After escaping from the 
sacs, the microsporangia appeared closely pressed around the larger 
macrosporangia and partly covering the latter (figs. 4 and 5). The yel- 
low microspores, visible through the transparent membrane, give to the 
sacs an appearance like fish-roe. The macrosporangia appear white at 
first. In the closed dry sporocarps the sori are arranged ‘transversely 
from back to front in two vertical layers alternately one above another. 
Around the suture of the entire sporocarp and embedded in the 
seam there lies a cushion-like ring of cellular tissue, which when dry is 
of a horny consistency. This ring is more developed at the hinder part 
of the fruit than in front. The sporangial sacs are attached to this by 
both their ends, i, e. both by their stems and their apices. As soon as 
this ring comes in contact with water it absorbs it with avidity, enlarges 
visibly in every direction, and swells up into the gelatinous ce. war 
string, which immediately frees itself all round from the coat of the 
Sporocarp. When the experiment was repeated in lukewarm water 
with other sporocarps, this phenomenon occurred again in great per- 
fection in the following manner :— 
