Developments of the Oophyte in Trichomanes . 277 
The archegoniophore may bear numerous archegonia, and 
I have not been able to discover any definite succession in their 
appearance; thus, in Fig. 10, the archegonia (a-e) do not show 
any definite arrangement according to age. The first arche- 
gonium may make its appearance while the archegoniophore 
is still a small body consisting of but few cells (Fig. 1 1). In 
point of details of structure the archegonia correspond to the 
type usual for Ferns : the neck, which is straight, consists of 
four rows of cells (a Fig. 10, Fig. 15), the number of cells 
in each row being usually five (Figs. 10, 16), but the total 
may be six or seven (Fig. 11), and may vary in the different 
rows of the same archegonium (Fig. 17). The last divisions 
appear in the terminal cells of each row, and the walls are 
there somewhat irregularly disposed. The venter of the 
archegonium is embedded in the tissue of the archegoniophore. 
The central series of cells consists, at maturity, of a single 
canal-cell, a ventral canal-cell, and the ovum ; there is nothing 
to be observed in these cells, or in the neck itself, which would 
lead to a closer comparison of these archegonia than those of 
any other Fern with the archegonia of the Bryophyta. The 
wall of the neck-cell undergoes the usual mucilaginous change, 
and finally the apex of the neck is ruptured in the usual way 
(Figs. 10, 15). 
The actual process of fertilisation I have not been able to 
observe. The method of cultivation in uniformly damp air, 
and without watering from above (excepting very occasionally), 
will tend to prevent the sexual process in the Kew cultures ; 
nevertheless a few young seedlings have been found con- 
nected with the archegoniophores, thus showing that the 
sexual act does take place ; but the fragmentary observations 
which I have been able to make on the embryology are too 
incomplete to warrant their present description. A detailed 
account of the development of the embryo, especially in the 
rootless forms 1 , is a desideratum which it is hoped that future 
observations may supply. 
1 A list of these is given by Mettenins, 1 . c. p. 409. 
