CERATOPTERIS THALICTROIDES. —-THE HORNED FERN. 147 
natural system of Botany was made popular by the labors of A. 
L. de Jussieu, and the more natural groups of species gathered 
into distinct bodies, this great author enumerates only fourteen 
genera in all the large family of ferns. The separation from 
Acrostichum and formation into a separate genus as Ceraiopteris 
dates from 1821, by Brongniart, who described and named it in 
a French work, the “Bulletin de la Societe Philomatique,” but 
some authors contend that Kaulfuss had named and described 
it as Enobocarpus, a little before this, and so the plant has to be 
sought for in some European works under this name. - However, 
Sir W. J. Hooker insists on Ceratopieris as being the prior, and 
hence the correct name. Ceratofleris is derived from two Greek 
words meaning “horned” and “Fern,” and this name was evi- 
dently suggested by the reflexed margins of the frond meeting 
at the back, as noted in the description, which give the sori the 
appearance of being enclosed in a hollow horn. To some of 
the older botanists it was known as Acrostichunt siliguosum, the 
specific name having been suggested by the same circumstance, 
that is, the rolled pinnule appearing like a silique, as the hollow 
seed-pods of cruciferous plants are termed. The specific name, 
thalictroides, is, of course, from a supposed resemblance in the 
fronds to some species of Zhalictrum, or “ Meadow-rue.” 
The anatomical structure of this fern gives it a more than 
usual interest to the botanist. The rings which surround the 
sporangia in ferns are nearly obsolete in this, and Sir W. Hooker 
was, therefore, at one time disposed not to regard it as a true 
member of the fern family. Again, it is peculiar in being an 
annual, while ferns in general are perennials, carrying over their 
rhizome or root-stocks from year to year. Like annual plants 
in other families, nature has made up for the shortness of its 
individual life by giving to it the means of rapid propagation. 
The spores are not as numerous as in most other ferns, but they 
have powers of ready germination, and Mr. John Smith, in his 
“Historia Filicum,” observes that, in the plant-houses of Kew 
Gardens, young plants appeared wherever there was a moist 
