82 Church. — The Polymorphy of 
that neither male nor female sexual Cells present any of these 
curious suggestions of direct development, but that both 
oospheres and antherozoids die the same day if copulation 
does not take place. 
During the summer of 1896, male plants were extremely 
rare at Plymouth, only two or three being seen, although 
female plants were dredged in considerable quantity. In 
1897 the same proportion obtained : thus, in a dredging taken 
on August 11, a score or so of very fine female plants were 
collected, but only one male. Some of these were placed in 
a vessel of filtered water with the object of obtaining 
embryos, but owing to the heat or some other cause, the 
plants all died ; nor was it until the end of the month, when 
cold and wet weather set in, that freshly dredged material 
could be kept alive more than a day or two. At this time 
and onwards, all the plants obtained were female, no more 
male plants being seen for the year. With the object of 
testing Thuret’s observations on direct germination, a number 
of female plants were on August 20 placed in filtered water 
(temp. 1 8° C.) standing in a north window. In the course of 
three weeks, the water having only once been changed, the 
fronds were found to be sprinkled all over with innumerable 
young plants, which by September 16 presented unmistak- 
able Aglaozonia characters (Figs. 14-21). Although the 
immediate proximity of such numbers of these young plants 
to the sori of oogonia suggested at once the direct germina- 
tion of oospheres which had lost their motility soon after 
discharge, it was quite possible that fertilization might have 
taken place before collection. More plants were accordingly 
collected in September, and washed and placed in filtered 
water. In a week the surface of the vessel was covered with 
thousands of germinating oospheres which had risen to the 
surface in virtue of their strong positive heliotropism ; of 
these, the majority at least must have been parthenogenetic, 
as it is evident that any few antherozoids, which might have 
survived collection and washing on the female plants, 
would not have sufficed for such a multitude of oospheres. 
