


16 BRITISH FERNS 
We have stated above that there is a cluster of archegonia, each 
with an embryo seed at its base, and although usually only one of 
these produces a plant, the vital energy of the prothallus becoming 
concentrated upon, presumably, the first embryo fertilized, this 
is not always the case, for in one instance in our experience a 
prothallus produced no less than seven plants, happily of an 
entirely new variety (A. f. f. Kalothrix cristatum). If, too, a pro- 
thallus be severed through the cluster in question, the severed 
' sections are capable 
Ž of independent re- 
production. Eur 
thermore, despite 
.| the wonderful fe- 
. cundity of Ferns as 
| regards the number 
| of spores, Ш has 
| been- noted that 
| with some species, 
| Osmunda regalis to 
wit, the first formed 
_ prothallus will bud 
— out at the edges 
"^. into others, each 
| capable of perform- 
ing its reproductive 
office, 50 that 
. numerous plants 
| may spring from a 
'. single spore. 
| It is clear, from 
our description of 
the process of fer- 
| tilization, and the 
small size of the 
scale upon which 
‚ the varied organs 
exist, that it is carried through entirely on microscopic lines, and 
it is due to this fact and the lack of any recognized association be- 
tween the observed scales and the resulting ferns that the botanists 
were baffled in their attempts to follow through the life history of 
the Fern until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century, that is 
until 1846, when Count Suminski discovered the final link in the 
chain by determining the nature of the archegonia, or female organs 
of the Fern, Naegeli preceding him by discovering and describing the 
antheridia and the antherozoids, and assuming the office they 
performed. The report of Suminski’s triumph was accompanied 
by a magnificent elucidatory set of drawings, which we reproduce 







Fig. 7.—Young Fern fairly established. 
