CHAPTER XIV 



HIDDEN MARRIAGES 



" Tvvas a most secret marriage." 

 "I pray you tell me of it." 



Old Play. 



WE have already glanced briefly at the phenomenon of reproduction by 

 spores, and cited examples from the principal groups of the Crypto- 

 gamia the so-called Flowerless Plants but these plants are so numerous, 

 and they are divided into so many classes and orders, each with its own 

 particular variation of the reproductive process, that a rather fuller treat- 

 ment of this phase of their economy seems called for. Though none of 

 them produces the petals and sepals which to the public eye constitute 

 the sole claim to the title of flower, and though in some there is not the 



Photo by] 



FIG. 636. MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT (Asplenium tnchomanes). 



One of the prettiest of our ferns. Common on rocks and old walls in some districts. 



500 



[E. Step, 



