806 HOFMEISTER, ON THE HIGHER CRYPTOGAMIA. 







the development of more than one germ-plant out of the 

 same prothallium. At that time he quite overlooked the 

 sexual organs. Thuret (' Ann. d. Sc./ iii ser., 1849, vol. V, 

 p. 5,) gives the first account of the antheridia of Equi- 

 setum, and the discovery of the archegonia seems to be 

 clue to Bischoff. Mettenius mentions (' Beitrage zur Bot/ 

 Heidelberg, 1850, p. 22), that archegonia resembling the 

 defunct archegonia of ferns were found upon a small piece 

 of a prothallium which he saw in Bischoff's possession. Milde 

 in 1850 ('Linnaea/ xxiii, p. 545), gave a more complete 

 account of the structure of the antherida and spermatozoa. 

 A little later I myself explained the development of the anthe- 

 ridia and spermatozoa, and figured the first stages of deve- 

 lopment of the archegonia (' Vergl. Unters.' Leipz., 1851, p. 

 102, PI. xx. fig. 62). Soon afterwards, Milde also observed 

 the neck of the archegonium, but without knowing what it 

 was ('N. A. A. C. L., 5 xxiii, 641). In 1852 I observed 

 the development of the embryo ('Flora,' 1852, p. 385), 

 and almost at the same time Milde discovered arche- 

 gonia, and he published his observations soon after mine 

 ('Flora,' 1852, p. 497). I made some further remarks 

 upon my previous observations in the fourth volume of the 

 ' Transactions of the Royal Society of Saxony/ p. 16S. 



