On the Germination of the Spores of Ferns. 343 



augescens. Link, Asp. concinnum, Link, Asplenium dissectum, 

 Link, and other species not specified ; but the author states that 

 the phenomena are constant in all the Ferns he has examined. 

 Nothing further appeared on this subject until December 



1847, when Dr. J. Miinter communicated to the Berlin Natur- 

 forschende Freunde*, the observations of Count Leszczic-Su- 

 minski; in January 1848 Prof. Ehrenberg also laid these before 

 the Berlin Academy, and in the same year they were published 

 in detail in a special memoir f. 



These researches are in the highest degree curious, and if the 

 facts related prove to be correct, must importantly affect the 

 received views of analogies in the generative processes of plants. 

 As the account scarcely admits of compression, we will give the 

 important passages in the author's own words : — 



The Sexual Organs of the Ferns. 



" In the year 1846 M. NageliJ made the interesting discovery 

 that the pro-embryo of Ferns exhibits analogues of the anthe- 

 ridia of the Mosses, Hepaticse and Charas. That observer de- 

 scribed these antheridia or spiral-filament organs accurately and 

 completely enough, but he was led away by a false principle in 

 his researches, and thus regarded as differences in the stages of 

 development what were actually different organs ; since both in 

 their anatomical structure and physiological import, they are to 

 be distinguished as two completely separate groups. 



"In the earliest condition of the pro-embryo are found on 

 its under face, more rarely on the borders, peculiar gland-like 

 cells projecting in a globular form from the surface. In more 

 mature age they increase in number, and occupy more particu- 

 larly the region among the radicle fibres. Some species, espe- 

 cially Pteris serrulata, are remarkable for their great number. 

 These organs originate by a sac-like elongation of particular 

 cells of the pro-embryo, forming globular protuberances from its 

 surface. Each at first contains chlorophyll, but by degrees a free 

 cell is formed, the contents of which exhibit homogeneous mu- 

 cilage, transparent globules, or distinct nuclei with nucleoli. As 

 soon as this cell has increased in size sufficiently to fill up the 

 original projecting sac, it is parted by a septum from the cell of 

 the pro-embryo. Thus the organ becomes independent. A third 

 cell is often formed between these, flattened above and below, 

 constituting a kind of peduncle to the upper cell. The contents 



* A report by Dr. Miinter appeared in the | Botanische Zeitung,' Jan. 21, 



1848, to which I shall allude presently. 



t " Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Farrnkriiuter ;" by Count Leszczic- 

 Suminski; Berlin, 1848. % L. c. 



