﻿THE FERX BULLETIN 



1] 



the parts of the sporophyte and not the gametophyte 

 that we shall find them. The tact is. the microsporo- 

 phylls of Selaginella are practically identical with the 

 stamens of flowering plants while the megasporophylls 

 with their megaspores correspond closely with the car- 

 pels and their embryo sacs. If, as we are warranted in 

 doing. Ave define a flower as a cluster of megasporo- 

 phylls and microsporophylls. then we can say with 

 truth that some of the fernworts actually bear flowers. 



The microspores of Selaginella always produce 

 small prothallia that bear only antheridia while the 

 megraspores give rise to prothallia that bear only 

 archegonia. These latter which Ave may call female 

 gametophytes are not green like the gametophytes of 

 the ferns but are colorless and therefore dependent as 

 regards their food. The food they use is stored in 

 the megaspore by the sporophyte. The gametophytes 

 of this kind never get entirely out of the spore-coats, 

 but by the splitting of these coats at maturity the 

 archegonia are exposed for the fertilization of the egg. 

 The new sporophyte begins to grow while yet the 

 gametophyte is attached to the old sporophyte and 

 thus very much resembles a seed pointing clearlv to 

 the fact that while on the one hand the fernworts are 

 the nearest relatives of the mosses, on the other they 

 approach very close to flowering plants. 



In a few instances, the fern sporophyte has been 

 found to produce new gametophytes without the inter- 

 vention of an asexual spore, just as the gametophyte 

 may produce a new sporophyte without the intervent- 

 ion of a sexual spore. This process is known as apos- 

 pory and was first noted by Chas. T. Druery. There 

 are two types of apospory : in one the prothallia spring 

 from what would ordinarily be a sporangium and are. 



