614 



the leaf where it is attached by minute radical fibres to the soil or 

 substance on which it grows : the author has seen these anther-like 

 bodies burst and emit granules of pollen : beyond the antheridia, and 

 nearer the distal extremity of the leaf, are seated the pistillidia ; these 

 are more elongate than the antheridia, are longitudinally quadripar- 

 tite as though composed of four united styles, and have a fissure at 

 the extremity through which the tube of the pollen-granule enters 

 and fecundates the ovule in the usual manner : the author has 

 actually observed the tube of the pollen-granule within the pistilli- 

 dium. The ovule, seated in the ovary at the base of the pistillidium, 

 after fecundation is speedily matured, and when ripe germinates in 

 situ, the radical fibres passing through the cellular leaf in search of a 

 suitable nidus, and a sinall circulate frond simultaneously arising from 

 the upper surface. Now supposing these observations to be correct, 

 and we have every reason for believing them to be so, we must no 

 longer regard the clusters on the back of a fern-frond as its fructifica- 

 tion, but rather consider the supposed capsule as the analogue of a 

 spathe, and its contained particles as flower-buds, which, falling to 

 the ground, develope and expand into a corolla — the cellular leaf — 

 having its proper stamens and pistils, and its true seed, we must re- 

 gard as formed in the ovary at the base of the pistil. 



The discoveries of Suminski are somewhat corroborated by a fact 

 well known to those who cultivate ferns in the Wardian cases : if the 

 atmosphere be kept thoroughly damp by an abundant supply of wa- 

 ter, and a careful exclusion of the arid external air without, clusters 

 of the corollas or Marchantiform cellular leaves will appear on the 

 backs of the fronds, and after a while young plants will be seen aris- 

 ing from the centre of each ; a phenomenon precisely analogous to 

 the germination of grains of wheat in a wet autumn while the corn is 

 yet standing. 



But the interest of these observations is not confined to their no- 

 velty as physiological facts: they must hereafter have an important 

 influence on definitions, methods and systems. Perhaps no hypothe- 

 sis has been more generally received by scientific men than that 

 which separates plants into sexual and asexual. Now if we review 

 this hypothesis under the light thrown on it by Suminski's discoveries, 

 we shall find that it rests on no more solid foundation than this : that 

 in plants with showy flowers we have observed the sexes, while in 

 those without we have not : we have therefore been contrasting com- 

 plete with incomplete observations, rather than one ascertained phe- 

 nomenon with another. The researches before us obviously tend to 



