CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
161 
and myself the Hart’s-tongue and Lady Fern. In the Lady Fern 
twelve marked varieties, and in the Hart’s-tongue eight varieties, 
were sown together ; and the result was, that seedlings were 
raised having the peculiar characters of three or four varieties 
blended in the same frond. There are several hybrids now known 
besides the above : one with Asplenium trichomanes, another 
with Asplenium marinum, a third with Asplenium lanceolatum, 
the fern known as Nephrodium remotum, Pteris pendula, etc., 
and may I add Asplenium Germanicum. Although these are 
apparently fertile, plants have not been raised from their spores 
after frequent trials.*' 
Mr. James Britten, in his “ European Ferns,” mentions as foreign 
hybrids : — 
Asplenium adulterinum, Milde (A. trichomanes -f- A. viride). 
„ dolosum, Milde (A. trichomanes -f A. adiantum- 
nigrum). 
„ ebenoides (A. ebeneum-f Camtosorus rhizophyllus). 
Scolopendrium hybridum (S. vulgare + A. Ceterach). 
Adiantum Farleyense (A. capillus-Veneris-t- A. scutum ?). 
Nephrodium remotum (N. Filix-mas + N. spinulosum). 
Space will not allow me to describe the reproductive organs ; f it 
may however be mentioned that Professor Arthur Henfrey pub- 
lished in 1851 a paper in which he stated that ten years previously 
Professor Nageli, of Zurich, had discovered the male organs, and 
in the year 1844 Count Leszazye-Suminski, of Berlin, had dis- 
covered both the male (Antheridia) and the female (Archegonia) 
organs, on the underside of the prothallus, £ during the prothalloid 
life of the fern ; and on the male organs finding the female cell 
coition took place. Some experiments that I am now making, 
bearing on this subject, will, I believe, open up a new field of 
inquiry. In Mr. Druery’s “ Choice British Ferns,” the reproductive 
organs are explained, as well as Mr. Druery’s newly-discovered 
phenomenon of Apospory in Ferns. 
It is an established fact, that the bulbils found on some varieties 
of ferns, do not always produce the same variety. Bulbils from 
the Scolopendriums “ Wardii ” and “ Kelwayi ” have yielded new 
varieties ; those from Aspidium angulare, Section plumoso-divi- 
solobum, variety “densum,” have originated the beautiful forms 
“Baldwini” and “ imbricatum,” and a bulbil from Osmunda regalis, 
* Several plants have recently been raised from my hybrid Aspidium 
aculeatum, and also from Nephrodium remotum, but the number is insignifi- 
cant. 
t Usually the archegonia are situated in the kidney-shaped prothalli, just 
behind the indented 'portion, and the antheridia amongst the rootlets. The 
archegonia are bottle-shaped, with a rather long neck, and contain a minute 
central cell (oosphere). The antheridia are spiral ciliated bodies, endowed with 
movement and called spermatozoids. These pass down the neck of the arche- 
gonia and fertilize the oosphere. — Britten's “ European Ferns.” 
J The prothallium was first noticed by Dr. Lindsay. — "Linn. Trans.” 1792. 
L 
