CHAPTER lY. 
THE WONDERS OF THE SPORE. 
MONGST tlie many wonderful things which the 
botanical student comes across, few, probably, 
are more striking, when thoughtfully considered, 
than the microscopical spores of the Crypto- 
gamia, or flowerless plants, and the reproduc- 
tive phenomena which they present for his 
observation. 
^ Ferns, the aristocracy of their tribe, afford the 
greatest contrast between the spore and its re- 
sults. Take, for instance, the largest of the Tree Ferns : here 
we have nothing less than a noble, stately tree, possibly 100ft. in 
height, with a huge, spreading crown and massive trunk in 
proportion, the whole of which has been developed from a 
microscopic spore, invisible to the naked eye. If we examine 
the fronds of that huge tree, we shall probably find the 
backs entirely covered with small, brown patches, lines, or 
dots, of which there will be countless myriads upon a single 
frond; yet, notwithstanding their number, every patch, line, 
or dot will, under the microscope, resolve itself into not 
merely a heap of spores, but into a heap of hundreds of cap- 
sules, or pods, each of which in its turn, though itself barely 
visible, contains some forty or fifty spores. Hence, there are 
many thousands of spores in every patch, or myriads of 
millions on every frond, every individual of which is capable 
