i6 



BRITISH FERNS 



^Ve have stated above that there is a cluster of archegoma, each 

 with an embryo seed at its base, and although usually only one of 

 these produces a plant, the vital energy of the prothallus becoming 

 concentrated upon, presumably, the first embryo fertilized, this 

 is not always the case, for in one instance in our experience a 

 prothallus produced no less than seven plants, happily of an 

 entirely new variety {A. f. f. Kalothrix cristatum). If, too, a pro- 

 thallus be severed through the cluster in question, the severed 



sections are capable 

 of independent re- 

 production. Fur- 

 thermore, despite 

 the wonderful fe- 

 cundity of Ferns as 

 regards the number 

 of spores, it has 

 been noted that 

 with some species, 

 Osmunda regalis to 

 wit, the first formed 

 prothallus will bud 

 out at the edges 

 into others, each 

 capable of perform- 

 ing its reproductive 

 office, so that 

 numerous plants 

 may spring from a 

 single spore. 



It is clear, from 

 our description of 

 the process of fer- 

 tilization, and the 

 small size of the 

 scale upon which 

 the varied organs 

 microscopic lines, and 



Fig. 7. — Young Fern fairly established. 



exist, that it is carried through entirely on 



it is due to this fact and the lack of any recognized association be- 

 tween the observed scales and the resulting ferns that the botanists 

 were baffled in their attempts to follow through the life history of 

 the Fern until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century, that is. 

 until 1846, when Count Suminski discovered the final link in the 

 chain by determining the nature of the archegonia, or female organs 

 of the Fern, Naegeli preceding him by discovering and describing the 

 antheridia and the antherozoids, and assuming the office they 

 performed. The report of Suminski's triumph was accompanied 

 by a magnificent elucidatory set of drawings, which we reproduce 



