Dr. E. Strasburger on Fertilization in Ferns. 331 



'to 



worthy of being added to these descriptions,, as it is also con- 

 tained in the same collection : — 



Glyciphila flavotincta. 



It is very like Olyciphila modesta^ G. R. G., of New Cale- 

 donia ; but it is rather larger in all its proportions, and it has 

 a prominent tinge of yellow on the back and beneath the body, 

 which is not found on the bird referred to. 



Length 6", wings 3" 3'", bill 12"', tarsi 10'". 



" Eyes black. Contents of stomach honey. Male and fe- 

 male." 



Three specimens were obtained at Erromango Island. 



XXXV. — On Fertilization in Ferns. 

 By Dr. Edward Stkasbueger *. 



The author affirms that he is enabled, by a series of observa- 

 tions on the prothallia of Pteris serrulata and CeratojHeris 

 thalictroidesj to correct certain errors of previous observers as 

 to the way in which fertilization is effected in Cryptogams, 

 and considers that the results attained by him in these instances 

 are calculated to throw a new light on the whole subject. He 

 commences the account of his experiments by tracing the de- 

 velopment of the antheridia, or cells producing the spermato- 

 zoids, from their earliest condition, and states that the growth 

 of their lateral cells presents the first example of annular- 

 cell formation by division in the vegetable kingdom — a fact 

 brought to notice by Dr. L. Kny in a paper communicated to 

 the Society of the Friends of Natural History in Berlin, in 

 November 1868 f. After detailing step by step the growth of 

 the cells in an antheridium. Dr. Strasburger observes that the 

 new twin cells, viz. the central cell and the annular lateral 

 cells, are distinguished from ordinary cells by the difference of 

 their contents, the inner one being stuffed with granular proto- 

 })lasm, the outer ones containing, at first, an almost colourless 

 sap, with a single, scarcely discernible nucleus, and a few 

 scattered grains of chlorophyll. He then describes the forma- 

 tion of the cells producing the spermatozoids in the following 

 manner : — 



Pteris serrulata presents several forms of antheridia : in 

 young prothallia they are commonly unicellular, in older ones 



* P'rom Pringsheini's ' .Jahrbiicher fiir wissenscliaftliche Botanik/ vii. 

 Band, 3tes Ileft. Conuminicated by C. Yj. Broome, F.L.S. i*v:c. 



t " Ueber den Bau and die KntwickUmp; des Farrii- Antlieridituns." 

 Berlin, 1869. (Ann. Nat. Hist. p. 2oo of the present volume. ) 



