TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 707 



16. On the Grotuing Point of Flianerogams} By Percy Groom. 



These investigations were undertaken to test the accuracy of those of Dingier and 

 Korschelt, who had found that phanerogams grow by means of a single apical cell. 

 The author investigated many rapidly growing buds, and invariably found no apical 

 cell, but an apical meristem. 



In Gymnosperms a companion type is a growing point in which there is no 

 distinct dermatogen, periblem, or plerome. In Angiosperms there is invariably 

 a distinct and regular dermatogen, which covers tissue the fate of which the author 

 did not follow out, but which in some cases appeared to be only indistinctly, if at all, 

 differentiated into periblem and plerome. The author finally endeavoured to trace 

 roughly the evolution of the growing point from the typical vascular Cryptogam, 

 with one apical cell, to the Angiosperm, with a distinct dermatogen. lie regards 

 the Gymnosperms as intermediate types. 



17. On the Cultivation of Fern prothallia for Laboratory purposes. 



By J. MORLET. 



In botanical studies it is now the custom to examine fully the life-history of 

 ■specially selected plants, and as far as possible to cultivate them under conditions 

 in which they can be at aU times available for examination. It may not be un- 

 interesting to teaching botanists therefore to bring together the ways in which 

 ■the spores of ferns can be grown, or at least such ways as are applicable to the 

 laboratory. 



Amongst British ferns spores of Osmunda and Lastrea Filix-mas are the most 

 easy to grow, rather less easy Polystichums and AthjTiums; the most difficult I 

 have found to be Blechnum and Polypodium. 



If ferns are to be grown from spores, the spores must be obtained in a condition 

 fit for growing. If the sori are examined by the aid of a magnifying-glass and the 

 sporangia are found to be of a dark-brown colour, and some of them have already 

 split, a frond or part of a frond should be wrapped in unglazed paper and kept in a 

 dry place until required. If any one of the pinnae or the apex of any one of the 

 fronds is forked or in any way abnormal, the spores obtained from those parts of 

 the fronds will A'ery likely reproduce the abnormality on every frond of some of the 

 young plants. 



I generally grow them in a 12-inch fern-pan covered with a round, flat-topped 

 glass (confectioner's cake-glass). This pan mil hold eight tree-pots, called sixties, 

 seven round the edge and one in the centre : the pots are prepared for the reception 

 of the spores in the following way : first a quantity of waste pots, bricks, or sand- 

 stone are broken up into different sized pieces from three-quarters of an inch to a 

 quarter; with these the pots are filled to within one inch of the top, beginning with 

 the largest pieces and finishing off with the smallest ; this ensures perfect drainage, 

 and at the same time prevents the soil from being washed down amongst the crocks. 

 The pots with the drainage should now be placed in a vessel and covered with 

 boiling water ; this will kill all germs of animal or vegetable life that may be 

 adhering to them. Next pass some cocoa-fibre refuse through a riddle -with a 

 quarter-iach mesh, and add" one-third silver sand. This also must be covered with 

 boiling water, and after the water is poured off the sand and fibre must be well 

 mixed. For spores of the strong-growing ferns, such as the Lastreas, Polystichums, 

 ■Osmundas, &c., the pots must be nearly filled, rather firmly, with the mixture ; but for 

 wall or rock ferns, such as the Aspleniums, Woodsias, Cj'stopteris, &c., merely 

 sprinkle on about a quarter of an inch thick, and for these it will be better to fill up 

 the pots with drainage nearer to the top. They are now ready to receive the spores, 

 which can be sown by first unwrapping the paper in which the fronds have been 

 placed to dry, when it wUl be found to contain thousands of dark-brown dust-like 

 spores far too numerous for sowing. To obviate this the paper should be held at an 

 .angle of about 45° and gently shaken over another piece of paper, when all the super- 



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