448 



REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 



opposite end, the first growth appearing to be quite unconnected 

 with that of the future reproductive organs : and in Anthoceros there 

 is no fixed punctum ready for the application of the male organs, 

 but these have to form a communication with the lower, or inferior 

 cellular tissue of the frond, before even the growth of seta can com- 

 mence. 



Besides a case in point exists in Viscum, or Loranthus, in which 

 no point is ready prepared for the reception of the male influence ; 

 showing how universal the law is, that in no one point or place is 

 there an absolute want of gradation. 



As in mosses the influence of the male disregarding the ovule, is 

 thrown into the development of the seta, and then of the theca at 

 the apex of this ; there can be no conclusive reason why in ferns the 

 same influence should be thrown into the development of the frond, 

 and then into that of the theca. 



While Anthoceros proves that in these orders the male influence 

 may exert its effects upon any point. 



As there is no styliform production in Anthoceros, so there is 

 none in ferns. If the ramenta be anthers, they will not be dubious 

 ones, because as they remain fixed, people cannot say, that possibly 

 they are also reproductive bodies, which by the bye is no objection 

 at all, after instances of anthers bearing ovules instead of pollen ! 



Why the peculiar distribution of the male influence (on which we 

 determine our genera,) takes place, is another question, and one that 

 cannot be fairly asked ? 



Why it is confined to the under surface perhaps can, it being a 

 law that in all cases it is the under surface of the leaf, or its modifi- 

 cation, from which new growths originate, and as nature has closed 

 indusia, how could the under surface be interior if this rule were 

 not regularly adhered to ? 



That the indusium is a special organ, i. e. not an eruption of the 

 cuticle, I am sure ; hence it is essential to examine extensively both 

 indusiate and other forms, the precise extension of their veins, &c. 

 at an early period to ascertain if their most diversified situations 

 cannot be reduced to some one type. 



Query. Is the gyrate vernation of any ferns comparable to the form 

 of certain shells, to which (at least Mollusca) ferns are supposed to 

 be analogous. 



Memo. To ascertain the most peculiar, and most universal points 

 of Mollusca and Pseudo cotyledonea, it is in this way that we may 



