388 A. Henfrey on the Higher Cryptogamous Plants. 
lar end of the spiral filament described by Schacht, which Merck- 
lin regards as a remnant of the parent vesicle, from which the 
filament had not become quite freed. The observations referring 
to the so-called ovule and the supposed process of impregnation 
are very important; they are as follows :— 
“|. The spiral filaments swarm round the ‘ ovule’ in numbers, 
frequently returning to one and the same organ. 
«2. They can penetrate into the ‘ovule.’ This was seen only 
three times in the course of a whole year, and under different cir- 
cumstances ; twice a spiral filament was seen to enter a still widely 
open young ‘ovule,’ then come to a state of rest, and after some 
third case of penetration occurred in a fully-developed ‘ovule, 
through its canal; it therefore does not seem to afford evidence of 
the import of the spiral filament, but certainly of the possibility 
of the penetration. 
“3. In the tubular portion of the ‘ovule,’ almost in every case, 
peculiar club-shaped, granular mucilaginons filaments occur at a 
definite epoch, these filaments, like the spiral filaments, acquiring 
a brown color with iodine. These mucilaginous bodies some- 
times exhibit a twisted aspect, an opake nucleus, or a membranous 
layer, peculiarities which seem to indicate the existence of an 
organization. 
‘4. These club-shaped filaments are swollen at the lower capi- 
tate extremity, and have been found in contact with the ‘embryo- 
sac’ or globular cell which forms the rudiment of the future frond. 
‘5. The spiral filaments, which cease to move and fall upon the 
prothallinm, are metamorphosed, become granular and swell up.” 
ence the author deduces the following conclusions :— 
“That these ciavate filiform masses in the interior of the ‘ovule’ 
are transformed spiral filaments, which at an early period, while 
the ovule was open, have penetrated into it; which leads to the 
probability that— 
“1. The spiral filaments must regularly penetrate into the 
‘ovules,’ and 
“2. They probably contribute to the origin or development of 
the young fruit frond (or embryo). In what way this happens 
the author knows not, and the details on this point given by 
Count Sumiuski remain unconfirmed facts.” 
An important point in this essay is the view the author takes 
of the whole process of development in this case. He regards it 
as not analogous to the impregnation in the Phanerogamia, since 
the essential fact is merely the development of a frond from one 
cell of the prothallium, which he considers to be merely one of 
the changes of the individual plant; while all the other authors 
who have written on the subject, with the exception of Wigand, 
the first frond, with its bud and root, an embryo, and regard 
