2 FERNS OF THE LAKE COUNTRY 



whose stems are merely confused pithy matter or woody 

 fibrous thread-like bundles, and whose leaf-veins are 

 parallel, the Flowerless Plants, called ACROGENS, 

 have their wood disposed in a zigzag manner, and their 

 leaves are either without veins, or ivith veins of the 

 most simple character, scarcely branching at all, or 

 branching only in repeated forks. The greater outer 

 distinction, however, is that of the absence of any ap- 

 parent flowers, and the arrangement of the seed (or 

 spores) in seed-vessels (or spore-cases) upon the leaves 

 themselves. This is speaking of the Ferns only, for 

 other Acrogens (called also Cryptogamic Plants), such 

 as the Fungi, have, or seem to have, no leaves at all. 



These spore-cases are set in clusters called sori (in 

 the singular sorus), looking like patches of brownish 

 or greenish brown dust, round or oblong or in lines, 

 upon the backs or margins of the fronds ; and as no 

 flowering-plant bears such, the full-grown Fern is easily 

 distinguishable. 



The spores says Moore " are minute, roundish, 

 angular, or oblong vesicles, consisting of two outer 

 layers, or coatings, enclosing a thickish granular fluid, 

 and they are very numerous and arranged without 

 order within the spore-cases. They are so small and 

 dust-like, that when thinly scattered over a sheet of 

 paper they are scarcely visible to the naked eye, though 

 lying by thousands amongst the also minute emptied 

 spore-cases. The colour, no less than the form of these 

 spores, is variable ; they are usually pale brownish or 

 yellowish, but they are sometimes green, and the tints 

 of brown and yellow are much varied. These organs 



