THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[SECOND SERIES.] 

 No. 8. AUGUST 1848. 



VIII. — An Account of the Germination of Isoetes lacustris. 

 By Karl Muller*. 



[With two Plates.] 

 1. Introduction. 



M. A. Raffenau Delile has already contributed an essay on 

 this subject. He observed the germination of this very interest- 

 ing genus in Isoetes setacea. His observations were published 

 in the ' Memoires du Museum d'Histoire Nat. de Paris/ torn. xiv. 

 p. 100 et seq., accompanied by two plates. However the whole 

 of his investigations throw but little light upon the matter if we 

 look especially — and with reason — for an account of the deve- 

 lopment of the embryo. M. Delile has given scarcely more 

 than what may be observed with the naked eye in every germi- 

 nating Isoetes : the germ breaking through the ovule and deve- 

 loping independently. 



It therefore was exceedingly agreeable to me, when my friend 

 Dr. Karl Jessen of Kiel, through the kindness of Prof. Kunze of 

 Leipsic, sent me for minute examination a quantity of Isoetes 

 lacustris with beautifully developed reproductive bodies. I was 

 the more desirous of obtaining these from having recently studied 

 the germination of the Selaginella, and had reason to expect that 

 the two genera would exhibit as much agreement in this point 

 as they do in their other allied conditions, depending on the 

 structure of the two kinds of reproductive organs. How far this 

 has turned out to be true will be seen in the course of these in- 

 vestigations. In any case it was of great scientific interest to 

 make out the relation of two plants — as to the natural affinity of 

 which opinion varies so much — in their earliest development, so 



* Translated by Arthur Henfrey, F.L.S., from the Botanische Zeitung, 

 April 14 and 21, 1848. 



Ann. &; Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. ii. 6 



