52 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [january 



nor Hoemeister ever saw any prothallia. DeBary, and later 

 Beck, germinated the spores of L. inundatum, and Fankhouser 

 found a few prothallia of L. annotinum. 



Treub overlooked the English surgeon, John Lindsay (i), who 

 nearly ioo years before had germinated the spores of the very species 

 with which Treub was dealing. Lindsay was also the first to 

 raise ferns from the spores. Having noted very young ferns grow- 

 ing in the open in Jamaica, he sowed the spores (" farina") and 

 watched their development. It was in connection with this work 

 that he tried L. cernuum. His own account is interesting: "I 

 have very lately sown that fine farina or dust contained in the 

 anthers of a species of the genus Bryum y namely, Bryum caespiti- 

 tium y or one very like it, and also the farina of Lycopodium cernuum. 



- 



There is a vegetable growth taking place where they were sown 

 which I hope will prove to be their young plants." Later, in a 

 letter to Sir Joseph Banks in regard to Bryum caespititium and 

 Lycopodium cernuum, he states that he had repeatedy sown them 

 both, and in proper situation found that they grew very readily. 

 There were no further figures or descriptions of either the Bryum 

 or Lycopodium. 



Spring's failure to germinate spores brought him to the curious 

 conclusion that Lycopodium, and also Psilotum and Tmesipteris, 



* 



consist exclusively of male plants, the females having been destroyed 

 in some geological catastrophe. At this time it was generally 

 believed that the spores, if they should germinate, would develop 

 directly into the leafy plants. A few years later, Hofmeister 

 opposed this view and predicted that the spores would give rise to 

 prothallia bearing antheridia and archegonia, and that the leafy 

 plant would arise from the fertilized egg; but all attempts to prove 

 his theory by germinating the spores resulted in failure. 



DeBary succeeded in germinating the spores of L. inundatum, 

 and in 9 days obtained prothallia consisting of 7 cells; but repeated 



* 



attempts failed to produce more advanced stages, except that one 

 prothallium was observed which had reached the 1 i-cell stage. The 

 prothallia soon died. 



In 1873, Fankhouser, in Switzerland, found prothallia and 

 sporelings of L. annotinum growing naturally. This fortunate find, 





