2 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



form the vine ; and, below this, the little point 

 (radicle} which is the beginning of the future root. 

 But in a spore (PL 3, Fig. 5), no matter how highly 

 it may be magnified, there is nothing to be distin- 

 guished, except the bit of protoplasm contained 

 within a membrane or cell-wall, which forms the 

 outer coat or covering of the spore. Hence it 

 may at once be seen that the method of the fern's 

 growth must, at the outset and very materially, dif- 

 fer from that of an ordinary flowering plant. To 

 establish, however, all the relations between the 

 lower and the higher forms of plant-life, to specify 

 their analogies and define their differences, can 

 only be done by careful observation of the lower 

 orders of Phanerogams (flowering plants), as well 

 as the higher orders of Vascular Cryptogams; and, 

 when this was made, we should find the fact very 

 evident, that in passing from the lowest to the 

 highest forms the ascent was so gradual as to 

 make it extremely difficult to draw the line of sepa- 

 ration between Phanerogams and Cryptogams, no 

 matter how widely-isolated specimens from each 

 might appear to differ. 



The spores of ferns are to be looked for in most 

 species on the back or under side of the fronds, or, 

 in others, on more or less contracted and altered 

 fronds. When ripe, the spores will fall upon a 

 paper on which a fertile frond is left to dry. If 

 we select such a frond, and examine it with a 



