Mr. A. Henfrey on the Progress of Physiological Botany. 339 



permission. The natives said the egg was found in the jungle, 

 and observed that such eggs were very very rarely met with, and 

 that the bird which produces them is still more rarely seen." 



The value of such a statement of course depends on the cha- 

 racter of the narrator, and on this head Mr. Joliffe observes — 

 " M. Dumarele is a French merchant of Bourbon, a very re- 

 spectable gentlemanly man, about sixty years of age, who has 

 for years been trading with his own vessels along the coasts of 

 Madagascar, and is well-acquainted with the different races of 

 natives and with the resources of the country. His very un- 

 assuming and quiet manner, and intelligent conversation, much 

 prepossessed us in his favour, and we believed everything he 

 told us to be worthy of credit as far as his judgement and good 

 intention went." 



Mr. Joliffe's own opinion seems to be, that M. Dumarele was 

 imposed upon in some way by the roguery of the natives. He 

 judiciously adds however — " M. Dumarele's story should not be 

 despised or discredited in these times, when such extraordinary 

 discoveries are constantly made in every branch of science, but 

 publicity should be given to his statement, that persons visiting 

 Madagascar may, if possible, collect fresh information on the 

 subject, and clear up the mystery. The sight of one sound egg 

 would be worth a thousand theories." 



It is a singular circumstance, if nothing more, that Marco 

 Polo refers the Roc, of Arabian-Night celebrity, to the island of 

 Madagascar ; but as the Roc, however gigantic, was decidedly not 

 brevipennate, a discussion of its history would be irrelevant to 

 our present subject. 



XXXVI. — Reports on the Progress of Physiological Botany. 

 No. 5. By Arthur Henfrey, F.L.S. &c. 



On the Phenomena accompanying the Germination of the Spores 



of Ferns. 



In the year 1 842, Nageli discovered on the pro-embryo (the cel- 

 lular expansion fruit produced from the spore in germination) of 

 Ferns, peculiar organs which he considered to be analogous to 

 the antheridia of the other Cryptogamic plants. 



In the account he published of these structures* he describes 

 them as gland-like organs growing on the under surface, near 

 the margin, very rarely upon the upper surface. They frequently 

 appear as if composed of a single cell; but it may mostly be 



* Bewegliche Spiral-faden (Saamenfaden ?) an Farren ; Schleiden und 

 Nageli's Zeitschr. fur Wiss. Botanik, Heft i. 168. Zurich, 1844. 



23* 



