588 



F1LICTES. 



a central body. And perhaps the first evidences of the spa- 

 rahij are presented with the appearance of the membrane, 

 which is to be the inner membrane. 



In Anthoceros, we have obvious dehiscence of the male 

 organs, the remarkable appearance of a conducting tissue 

 penetrating the fronds, apparently at any indeterminate 

 point, and this is followed by the appearance of the capsule, 

 then its protrusion through the upper surface of the frond, 

 with a comparatively late evolution of the sporula. 



There is another point worthy of notice in these frondose 

 Hepaticae and Anthoceri, which is, that the sexual organs are 

 evidently in connection with the inferior tissue of the frond, 

 and that while the males invariably protrude through the 

 upper surface,* the females assume an opposite direction 

 whenever physical obstacles are not presented. This explains 

 at once the universal dorsal nature of Ferns. 



The fact is in accordance with what takes place in Ferns, the 

 direction of the males is an apparent exception. For in many 

 instances they obviously arise from the under surface. 

 Great stress is to be laid on this remote operation, if I may sa 

 express it, of the male organs, because Ferns are perhaps 

 an excessive case in point, and because it may be asked, 

 why attribute fertilizing properties to these organs, when 

 there is no evident connection sufficiently immediate, be- 

 tween their actions, and the appearance even of the capsule. 



The analogy these organs bear to certain supposed anthers, 

 such as those of many Jungermanniae, bear upon a curious 

 anomaly in some Mosses, the only instances with which I am 

 acquainted occur in that heterogeneous assemblege, Neckera. 

 I allude to the curious confervoid filaments which give a 

 barbate appearance to the attenuated portion of the branch on 

 which they occur ; so far as I dare trust to my memory, their 

 appearances, and the coagulation of their contents, are much 

 the same. Have these particular Mosses anthers of the usual 

 form, or are these their anthers ? If they are, it amount to 

 something like proof positive in favour of my suspicion. 



