CHAPTER 1. 



THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



make a proper study of the life-history 



1 of a fern would require more space than 

 1 the few pages which can be allotted to the 



subject here. And, besides, no thorough investi- 

 gation of the matter could be made without a care- 

 ful microscopic examination of the fern itself in 

 all its forms and at the various stages of its 

 growth. A glance at the subject will, however, 

 be better than nothing : so let us begin at once by 

 examining the spore from which the fern originates. 



The spores of cryptogamous plants are the 

 same in purpose and use as the seeds of flowering 

 plants ; but in structure a seed and a spore are 

 very different. A seed contains a definite embryo 

 or rudimentary plant of the kind which is to be 

 produced by its growth. Take, for exafmple, the 

 seed of a squash (PI. 3, Figs 1-3). Open it, and, 

 besides the two large cotyledons or seed-leaves, we 

 find between them the bud {plumule) which is to 



