A'cRO i 1 I • 1 ' ! 



hi death, nol which 1 ■ 



antheridium in certain of tl 

 " In the j ear 1844, F 

 liuation of ''i tain Fern . and anno 



f the < 'li.u.i-. "ii 

 the pro embi llular body first 



:m anal) 

 have been very imperfecl . it . tate that hi 



..i ,im, and from I ption it is thai 



ling them as different ire. Thi 



of this discovery teemed to destroy all ground 

 not only in the Perns but in the other Crypt 



lular organs, producing movu • I filament 



upon the germinatini . proved that they were n< I 



its iii any waj inected with the reproductive proci 



•• But an assay published by the Count Suminski in 1848 totally 

 the question, and opened a wide field foi ition and invi 



just a- it was beginning to fall into disfavour, ''cunt Sumin 



ry of the course of development of the Ferns ti"!;i I 

 to the production of the regular fronds, and he found this di .■ I ibit 



aomena as curious as they were ui I. The cellu] 



were Bhown bo 1"- of tv. i perfect j . : stinct k ads, and moreover to ; 



• plausibility to the hypothesis that they represented n 

 as : moreover, this author expressly stated tl at be bad obi 

 of sexuality, by observing an actual pro ertilisation to take plac 



-, through the ag< qcj i I the spiral filamente oi 

 "The main points of his paper may be briefly summi i up 

 spur,, .a first produces a filamentous process, in the end of which 



a on until it is converted into a Marchantia-like fi 

 delicate !-\tur.., l ig the hair-like radicle hairs on its und< r side. • In I b 



Bide become developed, in variable numbei □ cellular i 



kinda The lirst, which he terms antherid the more numi 



somewhat globular cells, Beated on and arising from su 

 tia-like frond. The globular cell produces in its 



in each of 'which is developed a spiral filamenl ed up in the 

 ioh the globular cell bursts and discharge 

 Blai iving within the vesicles at length make their way out cf thi 



about in the water, displi • liral or heliacal form, and < 



ment wirli a thickened clavate extrem 



Suminski to be u hollow vesicle, and to be furnished with six oi 

 of which the apparently voluntary mov< fthefilan 



"The second kind of organ, the so-called 'ovules,' rin num 



different characters in different stages, At first they a 

 in tin- cellular tissue of the pro-embryo, Lying near I 

 underside. In the bottom of thecavity 

 embryo-sac. It is stated by Count Suminski that while the 

 or more of the spiral filaments make their 

 the centra] globular cell. Thi Us bounding I 



from the general surface into a blunt cone-like 

 arranged in a squarish form and leaving an interci llul 

 >a\ .; \ below. These four cells become dh ided by i 

 lied "\ ule exhibits externally a cj lindrical foi i 

 the uppermost of which gradually i 

 down between them. Meanwhile the vee ul ir 

 penetrated into the globular cellule or embry 

 multiplication, and in the coursi ••: time displ 

 first frond and the terminal bud whence the regular 

 considering the import of thesi 

 be with the process of fertilisation in flov 

 i. irding the production of the embryo from th < 

 representing the production of the phanen 

 tube after it has penetrated into the embrj • 



"The promulgation of these statements natur .and 



Bince they appeared, we have received several contribi e»e 



remarkable structures, some -confirmatory, to 

 others altogether opposed to them. 



