294 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
to maturity. After this interval of rest, the tube 
makes its way to the macrospore, pierces its deli- 
cate wall, and enters the neck of an archegonium, 
Here it finds a little globule of protoplasm, similar 
to that which is contained by the archegonium of 
a fern. One of the generative cells from the 
pollen-tube fuses with this globule, and after their 
union is complete creative life begins to mould. 
their combined substance into a little cone-bearer. 
The second “‘ generative cell’’ of the pine-pollen 
seems to be a mere understudy. It comes down 
the pollen-tube into the ovule, but the most recent 
investigators agree that it does not enter an 
archegonium, and that, after a brief interval it 
melts away, as it were, and disappears. It may be 
a reminiscence of a now obsolete method of fer- 
tilization practiced by the pine’s ancestors. 
Fern, selaginella, pine, and rose seem to repre- 
sent successive stages in the dwindling of the pro- 
thallus. That of the fern is a perfect plant, with 
green leafy surface and serviceable root-hairs. It 
comes out into the great world, supports itself in- 
dependently there, and reaches, sometimes, the 
ripe age of two years. That of the selaginella is 
minute, and spends its brief life almost encom- 
passed by the spore. That of the pine is highly 
