334 Observations on the Germination of Ferns. 
Vol. ii, p. 93. As far as it goes it is tolerably correct, but the figures 
are very rude and incomplete, and the process of germination is not 
progressively followedup tothedevelopementof the first gyrate frond, 
when the young plant first assumes the peculiar habit of its order. 
In 181 9 a letter from Sir James Smith was read before the Hor- 
ticultural Society of London, describing a method of raising ferns 
from seed (as it is termed) practised by Mr Henry Shepherd of Li- 
verpool, and the principle then recommended by him has been found 
so successful, that if good seed* can be obtained, a crop of seedling 
ferns are raised with as much certainty, as one of any other plants. 
In 1824, a paper on the germination of ferns by the Rev. John 
Macvicar of Dundee, was read before the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh, and published in the 10th vol. of the Transactions in 1826. 
A more minute account of the developement of the sporule, and 
more correct figures are given, but the investigation stops at the same 
point as that to which Mr Lindsay carried his observations. 
Figures are given also by Agardht in his Lehrbuch der Botanik, 
t. 3 f, 40-42 ; and the mode of developement of the first gyrate 
frond, which is incorrectly represented by Mr Lindsay and Mr Mac- 
vicar, is roughly, but accurately, delineated. Indeed the analogy be- 
tween the young fern at that particular point of its growth, and a 
germinating endogenous plant appears to be now well known. 
I have not, however, at present seen any thing like complete and 
satisfactory figures of these plants during every stage of germination, 
and as the subject appears to be one likely to lead to very important 
inferences J with regard to the intimate structure, as well of the more 
highly organized plants, as of those which are merely cellular, the 
present observations, which have not however, any pretensions to 
novelty, except the existence of an integument in the sporule be a 
new fact, will not, I trust, be deemed superfluous. 
* The word seed is here used in a practical sense only. The notion of 
Agardh, that the organ commonly called the capsule with its ring, is a seed with 
a prominent raphe, containing many embryos, is perfectly untenable. 
+ I have to acknowledge the assistance of a friend in pointing out this, and 
some other references to which I could not otherwise have had access. 
\ The developement of the fronds in full-grown ferns appears to me highly 
worthy of consideration. In Asplenium nidus, Aspidium fraxinifolium, Adi- 
antum reniforme, &c. the younger portion of the frond is nearly transparent, and ' 
affords an opportunity of examining the manner in which the parenchyma is 
formed. 
If I mistake not there is an integument of a very peculiar structure in the 
sporules of Equisetaceae. If this be found to be the case generally with sporules, 
the analogy between them and pollen grains will be very striking, and the sup- 
position, that they are mere modifications of the cellules, greatly strengthened. 
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