CRYPTOGAMIA IN CULTIVATION. 49 



mp:eting for discussion. 



The meeting was opened with the following paper : — 

 Cryptogamia in Cultivation, 

 by john robinson. 



The subject of Cryj^fogamia, embracing as it does the larger 

 part of vegetation, both in quantity of specimens and in number 

 of species, is one that can hardly be treated very definitely in a 

 single hour, therefore we will brieflj' notice various families and 

 orders, dwelling particularly upon those where the species are used 

 in cultivation. 



A veiy simple and clear distinction between a flowering plant 

 and a cryptogam is that the former is produced from a seed, while 

 the latter is produced from a spore. If we open a seed we shall 

 see, more or less clearly defined, a miniature plant. A seed is rarelj'' 

 so small as not readily to be seen by the naked eye, while a spore 

 is rarely large enough to be seen without a lens, and contains no 

 definite form within. In germination a seed grows directlj'^ into a 

 plant like the one by which it was produced, while the spore 

 rarel}' does, — some fungi, for instance, passing through as many 

 as five or six stages before reproducing a plant similar to the first. 

 This has been likened to some insect reproduction, the egg of a 

 butterfly, for instance, producing a caterpillar which goes through 

 certain changes to produce a butterfly similar to the one that depos- 

 ited the egg. This fact is familiar to every one, and yet almost every 

 cryptogam, growing from a spore, goes through about the same, 

 or even more changes, while few persons realize it. The name 

 cryptogam signifies " concealed marriage ;" it was suggested by 

 Linnseus (as every book on the subject tells us), who, although he 

 could not find any sexual action in these plants, felt confident there 

 must be such ; and the discoveries of modern botanists liave beau- 

 tifully verified this supposition. • 



Glancing at the orders of this group, beginning with the lowest, 

 we have first the Diatoms. These are plants consisting of a sin- 

 gle cell, and, owing to the capability of free motion, were for a 

 long time considered as animals, but are now placed as the lowest 

 order of plants. They are all microscopic, and are found in nearly 



7 



