The Young Fern 



from the anthers ! But we should do well to note that 

 while the higher plants have often to depend on the 

 wind, insects, or other agency for the transference of 

 their pollen, water only is required in the case of ferns 

 to ensure fertilisation of the egg-cells by the sperms. 



For a long time the process of fertilisation in ferns 

 was a great mystery, and it has been suggested that the 

 want of exact knowledge of how new ferns were 

 produced may have been the basis for the old-time and 

 long-current superstition that the fortunate, or un- 

 fortunate, individual who carried fern seed that is, 

 fern-spores in his pocket became invisible. 



The first frond which develops from the fertilised 

 egg-cell is a very simple one, which gives no indication 

 of what the fully-grown fern will be like, but the later 

 ones become more and more like the adult form which 

 produced the spores. After two or three fronds have 

 appeared, the prothallium withers away, and at last 

 disappears. There is no longer any need for it, as the 

 young fern -plant can now manufacture food and 

 procure water for itself. In course of time this fern, 

 whose life-history we are tracing, will bear spores 

 similar to that from which it has indirectly sprung. 



The various stages in the life-history of a fern may 

 be briefly set down as follows : ( i ) The spore ; (2) the 

 prothallium ; (3) the appearance of male and female 

 organs ; (4) fertilisation of the egg-cell ; (5) the new 

 fern ; and (6) the production of spores. 



If we regard the prothallium as the parent and the 



