20 THE LIFE-HISTORY OF A FERN 
of Sporophytic budding. It is plain that such growths are only methods 
of amplification of the morphological individual; though ultimately quite 
separate from the parent plant, there is no reorganisation of the protoplasts 
involved in their initiation. 
There is, however, an alternative mode of increase in number of 
individuals, which deals with much larger numbers of potential germs, 
and involves a much greater complexity of the phases of production than 
the mere sporophytic budding: it is by means of spores. Since this 
spore-production is a constant feature in the normal life of all Ferns, and 
Fic. 4. 
Vertical section of the sorus of Mephrodinm Filix-mas. (After Kny.) 
indeed of Archegoniates at large, while sporophytic budding only occurs 
in relatively few, there is good reason to believe that this was a more 
primitive and important form of propagation. It therefore demands more 
serious attention. 
An examination of the leaves of the Male Fern will show in many 
cases, and especially in young plants, merely a smooth, rather pale green 
under surface: these are then the vegetative leaves, or “ ¢rophophydls,” as 
they are sometimes called, and they always appear first in the develop- 
ment of the individual. But other leaves of older plants, and especially 
those formed later in the season, bear on their lower surface, and chiefly 
near their apical part, numerous roundish patches, which are green or 
brown according to age: these are the sorv7, and the leaves bearing them 
