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ON THE GERMINATION OF FERNS. 
7. G. Mcrtcnsii, Hort. — An elegant evergreen stove Fern ; from South America. Fronds delicate, very fragile, 
one and a half feet long, covered heneath with a rich yellow farinose powder, the upper surface yellowish green ; 
bipinnate with lanceolate pinnaj, and roundish or elongated pinnatifid pinnules, with dentate segments. Sori 
medial, confluent, covering nearly every segment of the frond. Ekizonie tufted. 
8. G. sulphurea, Desvaux. — A very elegant dwarf evergreen species ; from Jamaica. Fronds from six to ten 
inches long, fragile, and very delicate, the under surface covered with a farinose powder of a bright sulphur 
yellow, upper surface pale green, terminal, adherent to a fasciculate erect rhizome ; bipinnate with lanceolate- 
acuminate pinna;, and oblong-obtuse pinnatifid pinnules, cuneate at the base, the margin dentate. Sori linear, 
forked oblique, subsequently confluent, nearly covering each segment of the pinnules. 
9. G. c/uerophi/lla, Desvaux. — A tender, delicate, fragile, annual stove Fern ; native of the West Indies and 
various places in South America. Fronds decompound, triangular, bright green, from six to eight inches high, 
with roundish ovate pinnatifid pinnules, deeply dentate, and cuneate at the base. The fertile fronds are erect, 
and the pinnules very much contracted. 
10. 67. leptophijlla, Desvaux. — An extremely delicate annual stove species; from the South of Europe, 
Madeira, &c. This little Fern attains the height of but a few inches. The fronds bipinnate, smooth, with 
roundish cuneate, two or three lobed pinnules, and each lobe bluntly dentate. Sori forked, confluent. Fertile 
fronds not contracted, and nearly all fertile. 
LEPTOGEAMMA, J. Smith. — Name derived from leptos, slender, and gramma, writing; alluding to the 
narrow lines in which the sori are disposed. 
Veins pinnate, venules simple, free, parallel, usually external. Sori oblong-linear, medial, oblique, composed 
of a few spore-cases, which are some- 
iKsi^Bii. times echinate. Fronds bi-pinnatifid, 
from one to two feet long, smooth or 
villose. Ehizome csespitose, creeping. — 
This genus has undoubtedly a consider- 
able affinity with several of the preceding 
ones : it may be viewed as forming a 
link between Grammitis, Polypodiuni, 
Fit/. 8. and Gymnogramma. Its elongated sori 
are similar to Grammitis ; but it is separated from that genus by its habit and the different formation of the 
veins. It has the habit and venation of many species of Polypodiurn, but is distinct from them in its linear 
sori. It is very closely connected with Gymnogramma, being distinguished from that genus only by the 
veins and sori being simple. There are many species belonging to Leptogramma, but only one at present in 
cultivation. Fig. 8 shows the upper portion of a pinna of L. villosa (med. size). 
1. L. villosa, J. Smith. (Gymnogramma villosa, Link). — A beautiful evergreen stove Fern, from Brazil. 
Fronds hairy, bipinnatifld, about two feet long, reclining, with linear-lanceolate acuminate pinnaj, and rather 
ovate, bluntly acuminate segments. They are lateral, adherent to a casspitose creeping rhizome. Sori oblong, 
near medial oblique. 
ON the germination oe eerns. 
By AETHTJE HENFEEY, F.L.S., Lecturer on Botany at St. George's Hospital. 
THIS subject having attracted a good deal of attention lately, it may be interesting to some of the 
readers of the Gardeners' Magazine to have an account of the principal phenomena which have 
been recently observed, and of the views entertained respecting the reproduction of the plants. 
It has long been known that when the spores of the Ferns germinate, they first produce little disks 
of green cellular tissue, lying like collections of little green membranous scales upon the surface on 
which they are growing. About ten years ago, Professor Nageli of Zurich observed a peculiar struc- 
ture upon these little germinal fronds, consisting of cellular bodies, from which were discharged spiral 
filaments, moving rapidly and apparently voluntarily through the water in which the object lay 
beneath the microscope. The discovery of these organs was not much noticed at the time, hut about 
four years ago Count Leszczye-Suminski of Berlin made a complete series of observations on the germina- 
tion of the Ferns, and published an elaborate and fully-illustrated account of them, in which he not only 
confirmed the statement of the existence of these so-called antheridia of the Ferns, hut showed that 
there existed turn kinds of cellular organs upon the young germ frond, which organs he considered to 
represent the two sexes, and to correspond to the antheridia and pistillidia of the mosses. 
I have examined these structures myself, and can confirm completely, in most respects, the account 
Suminski has given of then- general structure ; hut my observations have not yet been sufficiently 
extended to enable me to give an opinion on the physiological questions relating to them, which I shall 
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