﻿20 MR. JOHN SCOTT ON THE TREE FERNS OF BRITISH SIKKIM 



of Schleiden 



as is shown in the figures of A. latebrosa, which are doubtless abortive jjinnoe. More- 

 over the basal and lateral loculi hare primarily the same contents; and indeed the 



ultimate difference is by no means important — namely, the reduction of the contents 



of the basal cells into a loose brown sporoidal matter, while the upper or lateral retain 

 their original cellularity, though not unfrequently we find their contents passing 

 gradually into one another. Hugo Mohl (' De Stractura Pilicum Arborearum,' p. 45, 

 § 12) describes these organs as occurring in several Brazilian species of Alsophila, and 

 gives various sections of them in tab. xxxt., but offers no opinion as to their signifi- 

 cation in the economy of the plant, further, indeed, than a reference to that of Martins, 

 who had suggested thea analogy with the antheridial organs of other cryptogams, prior, 

 of course, to the detection of the true sexual organs by Leszczyc-Suminski. Their ana- 

 logical resemblance to the imbedded axiUary capsules of Jsoefes and the pulverulent 



contents anyhow shows that Martius's view was more than a mere unfounded hrpothesis 

 Mf Schleiden, Prineip. Bot. p. 194) ; and, indeed, there may be still those who' in spite 



may (perhaps not incorrectly) be disposed to regard them as the 

 aborted spore-cases of some ancient progenitor. It is curious that a somewhat correkted 

 organ of dubious import should also occur in Lycopods. Karl Miiller was the first to 

 detect this organ, which he describes in his paper " on the Development of the Lyoopo- 

 dia^eiB," in the Bot. Zeitung, July 31st, 1846. This, which he terms an " acces- 

 sory organ," he finds present in all stages of the plant's existence. In the terminal bud 

 of the germ-plant it is fully developed, and placed between the bud of the branch and 

 the bud-envelope. It is again met with in the axils of both forms of leaves ; in the 



termmal bud It occurs soon after the development of the leaf from the stem, and is 



rSm tat ". ^'^T; " " '''° '^""'^ '^^"'^^^ "'•= oophoridium and the anthe- 



numW o? i r r: ' '"'"• " ^ ^^^^"^ °^ ^^ Py"f°™ ^l^^P^. ---ting of a 

 number of delicate transparent parenchymatous cells filled with a flnelv "ranular 



and thus contmues unt.l the annual growth of the plant is completed, when it wither 



apprrmation L its re^^LZ '^^^^^^ »S- *" -^^e even an 



buds which are often Tpt C • ' Z. ' , ^"'^"^""^ ''P^'^" *" ""^ *« °'=°'^^ i° those 



Here, howler it musTi bet H .w '""" "' ^'^"'^ «""''»"- «"^ °'^'^^- 

 -^..fl.^ ...J:_x.' " , ""^y ^^ forgotten that in our case the ceUs /.ever h„™ „,„». 



contents which thev have in the loenli nf 7 ' ^''''^' '^^^^ ^ 



garded as buds. Are thev abortt I \ / '' <=°'^^«1^''^tly they cannot be 



W be brought t:^^' tZoT^^"'* "• "' ''"'' ''''"'''''' °'Sans ? Reasons 



to solve the question " WitlZt 1 . T^' ''' '^'^ "^"^ ^° »^« -adequate 

 really are, I cann t think thttlv? . " '"^ "P^"'"" ^^ *° -'''^t Ihese 

 I have found that, n th L eat n S f 1 t^'"^' '"'^ ""^ '^^^°^- -gans 



arrested. f.h..<. „'-."'''' " ""^''^ ^^^ development of the main nxi» T,t r. 



has been 





