Bibliography. 197 



Although he gives the name of antheridia and ooplioridia to the two 

 sorts of fructification in this family which are termed anthers and ovaries 

 by some other botanists, he denies that they fulfill the office of these 

 organs, or that the one in any way fecundates the other. This fecunda- 

 tion the author thinks impossible, for two reasons, (neither of which ap- 

 pear to us absolutely conclusive,) 1st, because there is no stigma or other 

 conducting medium ; and 2d, because the so-called anthers shed their 

 contents in almost every instance (Selaginella rupestris and S. spinulosa 

 being the only known exceptions) long before the so-called ovaries attain 

 their full development. A stronger reason may be found in the fact, that 

 the latter organs are not essential to propagation in this family, and are 

 altogether wanting in three of the four genera which compose it. Spring 

 remarks, however, not only that these pollen-like grains burst like true 

 pollen when thrown into water, with the escape offovillcc, as Brown long 

 ago remarked, but that he has also seen in Selaginella, (as Brown had 

 remarked in Psilotum,) the production of hoyauz from the grains, not 

 unlike pollen-tubes. On the other hand, he has been able to confirm the 

 fact of the germination of these grains in Lycopodium ; but not in Sela- 

 ginella, the only genus in which the two kinds of organs coexist, and 

 where a sexual antagonism may be supposed to take place : and in this 

 case the globules or spores contained in the oophoridia have been observ- 

 ed to germinate and give rise to new plants. Germination, in both kinds 

 of reproductive bodies, as in most other cryptogamic plants, takes place by 

 the simple extension and growth of the whole spore, without the rupture 

 of any integument. 



Ninety-eight known, and three uncertain species of Lycopodium are 

 here described ; of which thirteen are natives of extra-tropical North 

 America. Only two of this number are peculiar to this country, viz. 

 L. lucidulum and L. dendroideum. It is remarkable that not only L. 

 complanatum and L. clavatum, which are cosmopolites, but also L. sabi- 

 nmfolium, which is otherwise restricted to British America, are found in 

 Java. Our two principal southern species, L. Carolinianum and L. 

 alopecuroides, both extend to Brazil ; and the former is also a native of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, &c. ; and one of our Alpine spe- 

 cies, L. Selago, is likewise antarctic. We append a conspectus of the 

 North American species, with their geographical range. 



Gen. LYCOPODIUM. 



Sect. 1. Antheridiis sparsis, (Selago, Dill.) 

 §1. Foliis undique conformibus ;. 



L. Selago, Linn. — Europe, Northern Asia, Boreal America, Azores, 

 Peru, Falkland Islands, Van Diemen's Land. 



§2. Foliis fructigeris difformibus vel saltern minoribus. 



L. taxifolium, Swartz. — Nootka Sound, (L. struthioloides, Presl, rel, 

 Hcenk,) Mountains of the East and West Indies, St. Helena. 



