THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[SECOND SERIES.] 

 No. 54. JUNE 1852. 



XXXVI. — On the Reproduction of the Higher Cryptogamia and 

 the Phanerogamia. By Arthur Hexfrey, F.L.S. &c. 



[With a Plate.] 



Ix a report which I furnished to the British Association at the 

 last Meeting (1851), I gave an account of the historical develop- 

 ment of the question of the reproduction of the higher Crypto- 

 gams, confining myself to a summary of the different views en- 

 tertained by the various authors who have recently written on 

 this subject. 



That report was not accompanied by illustrations ; moreover, 

 since it was written I have had more leisure to investigate cer- 

 tain points myself, and to weigh the general conclusions to be 

 deduced from them. Since the new lights which have been 

 thrown upon this subject must entirely change our views of the 

 relations of those higher Cryptogams among themselves and to 

 the flowering plants, and since, moreover, they furnish a basis 

 for a more satisfactory classification of them than -we have 

 hitherto possessed, I have thought it might be acceptable to the 

 readers of the ' Annals ' if I laid before them an account of what 

 is known respecting the Cryptogams, without the detailed refer- 

 ence to authorities given in the British Association Report, to- 

 gether with a statement of the remarkable points suggested by 

 Hofmeister in reference to the relations of the Coniferae to the 

 Cryptogamia on the one hand and the Angiospermous flowering 

 plants on the other. 



Hepatic^. 



It is well known that the appearance of the spore-fruits or 

 capsules of the Hepaticae is preceded by that of certain minute 

 organs termed the pistillidia, or as they are now more generally 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. ix. 29 



