334 Observations on the Germination of Ferns. 



Vol. ii, p. 93. As far as it goes it is tolerably correct, but the figures 

 are very rude and incomplete, and the process of germination is not 

 progressively followed up tothedevelopementof thefirst gyrate frond, 

 when the young plant first assumes the peculiar habit of its order. 



In 1819 a letter from Sir James Smith was read before the Hor- 

 ticultural Society of London, describing a method of raising ferns 

 from seed (as it is termed) practised by Mr Henry Shepherd of Li- 

 verpool, and the principle then recommended by him has been found 

 so successful, that if good seed* can be obtained, a crop of seedling 

 ferns are raised with as much certainty, as one of any other plants. 



In 1 824, a paper on the germination of ferns by the Rev. John 

 Macvicar of Dundee, was read before the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh, and published in the 10th vol. of the Transactions in 1826. 

 A more minute account of the developement of the sporule, and 

 more correct figures are given, but the investigation stops at the same 

 point as that to which Mr Lindsay carried his observations. 



Figures are given also by Agardht in his Lehrbuch der Botanik, 

 t. 3 f, 40-42 ; and the mode of developement of the first gyrate 

 frond, which is incorrectly represented by Mr Lindsay and Mr Mac- 

 vicar, is roughly, but accurately, delineated. Indeed the analogy be- 

 tween the young fern at that particular point of its growth, and a 

 germinating endogenous plant appears to be now well known. 



I have not, however, at present seen any thing like complete and 

 satisfactory figures of these plants during every stage of germination, 

 and as the subject appears to be one likely to lead to very important 

 inferences % with regard to the intimate structure, as well of the more 

 highly organized plants, as of those which are merely cellular, the 

 present observations, which have not however, any pretensions to 

 novelty, except the existence of an integument§ in the sporule be a 

 new fact, will not, I trust, be deemed superfluous. 



* The word seed is here used in a practical sense only. The notion of 

 Agardh, that the organ commonly called the capsule with its ring, is a seed with 

 a prominent raphe, containing many embryos, is perfectly untenable. 



+ I have to acknowledge the assistance of a friend in pointing out this, and 

 some other references to which I could not otherwise have had access. 



| The developement of the fronds in full-grown ferns appears to me highly 

 worthy of consideration. In Asplenium nidus, Aspidium fraxinifolium, Adi- 

 antum reniforme, &c the younger portion of the frond is nearly transparent, and 

 affords an opportunity of examining the manner in which the parenchyma is 

 formed. 



§ If I mistake not there is an integument of a very pecidiar structure in the 

 sporules of Equisetacea?. If this be found to be the case generally with sporules, 

 the analogy between them and pollen grains will be very striking, and the sup- 

 position, that they are mere modifications of the cellules, greatly strengthened. 

 4 



