3° APRIL AWAKENING. 



spore. These filaments no doubt serve as kinds 

 of hooks or fingers, by which the spores are 

 entangled, thus preparing them for fertilization. 

 As soon as they sink in the moist ground they 

 push out irregular cellular roots or sprouts, on 

 the lobes of some of which, are developed certain 

 organs, that are allied to the anthers of common 

 blossoms, which contain curious minute spiral fila- 

 ments and perform the same offices as those of 

 ordinary pollen grains. On other sprouts are 

 organs which may be compared to the stigmas and 

 ovaries of flowering plants. At a certain stage of 

 growth these anther-like cells burst open and the 

 singular threads begin to wriggle like worms, and 

 are not at rest until by the aid of rain or dew- 

 drops, they have been carried to the ovule-like 

 sacks, when, in a mysterious way, fertilization is 

 effected. It is by some such method as this that 

 all flowerless plants or cryptogams, as they are 

 called, are reproduced. 



By the streams and low-lands the bird vanguard 

 instinctively halt to bathe and obtain a greater 

 supply of larval and seed food. A flock of fox- 

 sparrows alight in the wooded swamp. They 

 appear, this year, in the role of April singers. 

 They perch on the low boughs and herald their 

 good fortune with sweet-toned bugles. Their 

 introductory notes are clear and prolonged, like a 

 diminished prelude to the bugler's reveille. Three 



