124 Prof. J. R. Green. On the Germination of the [Feb. 



paper. For the present it seems best to regard this organ as simp 

 a sporangium-pedicel, though there is no analogy among kno\ 

 Cryptogams for the presence of a vascular bundle in the stalk of 

 sporangium. 



It appears that all species of Sphenophyllum in which the fructifu 

 tion is known, had essentially similar strobili, with pedicellf 

 sporangia. 



The genus Sphfnophyllum cannot be placed in any existing fsimilj 

 of Vascular Cryptogams. Anatomically there are some strikii 

 points of resemblance to Lycopodiaceae, but the habit and fructific 

 tion are totally different from anything in that order. Sphenophylh 

 in fact, constitutes a group by itself, which is entirely unrepresent 

 at the present epoch, and the affinities of which cannot be det 

 mined until additional forms have been discovered. 



The paper is illustrated by numerous photographs from the 

 preparations and specimens, and by a long series of camera-luck 

 drawings, executed by Mr. George Brebner. 



II. "Researches on the Germination of the Pollen Grain 

 the Nutrition of the Pollen Tube." By J. REYN 

 GREEN, M.A., B.Sc., Professor of Botany to the Phar 

 ceutical Society of Great Britain. Communicated 

 W. T. THISELTON DYER, F.R.S., C.M.G., C.I.E. Receive 

 January 2, 1894. 



(From the Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Gardens, Kew.) 

 (Abstract.) 



Many observers, especially Van Tieghem and Mangin, ha - 

 established the fact that the growth of the pollen tube is a process 

 true germination, strictly comparable to that of the growth of the 

 prothallus from the spore in the groups of Vascular Cryptogams. 

 The germinative process is carried on at the expense of various 

 reserve materials deposited partly in the pollen grain itself and partly 

 in the conducting tissue of the style, down which the pollen tube 

 makes its way. 



The existence of certain enzymes in the pollen grain has also 

 proved by Van Tieghem and by Strasburger. The former has sho 

 that when the pollen of several genera, especially Crocus an 

 Narcissus, is cultivated in cane-sugar solutions, a certain amount of 

 grape-sugar is produced in the culture, suggesting the presence of 

 invertase ; while the latter has shown similarly that certain pollens, 

 when cultivated in starch paste, can liquefy it, with the formation of 

 maltose. 





