HoLLOWAT. — Studies in the Neiv Zealand Species of Lycopodium. 253 



Art. XXX. — Studies in the New Zealand Species of the Genus 



Lycopodium : Part I. 



By the Rev. J. E. Hollowat, M.Sc. 

 [_Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 3rd November, 1915.} 



Plates XVII, XVIII. 



In these studies I hope to put together the results of my observations 

 on the life-history of the New Zealand species of Lycopodium. In 

 several of the papers which have been published on the subject of the 

 genus Lycopodium the paucity of inforniation available for the purpose 

 of a comparative study has been commented upon. The present study 

 seeks to bring into the arena of Lycopodium problems additional data 

 with regard to the occurrence and habit of the mature plant, the occur- 

 rence and structure of the prothallus, the nature of the dependence of 

 the young plant upon the prothallus, and the vascular anatomy of both 

 the " seedling " and the full-grown plant. 



The chief modern writers on the subject are Treub, Goebel, Bruch- 

 mann (6), Lang (14), and Thomas (16) on the prothallus; Jones (13) on 

 the stem-anatomy; and Sykes (15) on the morphology of the sporangium- 

 bearing organs. Bower (4) has thoroughly analysed and co-ordinated 

 all known Lycopodium facts in connection with his well-known theory of 

 the origin of the sporophyte : he concludes that the genus is to be read 

 as a progression from a simple Selago-\\k.Q form. Lang (14) has also 

 given a comparative analysis of the facts, and, foUoAving Treub, has 

 arrived at conclusions in which the species which belong to the L. cernuum 

 cycle of affinity are viewed as the most primitive in the genus, the whole 

 genus being read as a reduction series. Thomas and Sykes support this 

 second interpretation, but Goebel doubts the primitive nature of the 

 protocorm, on which, of course, this view is largely based. Lady Isabel 

 Browne (5) has lately proposed a third interpretation, according to which 

 the protocorm is to be regarded as a reduced stem. Bruchmann's inter- 

 pretation of the various types of Lycopodium prothallus would separate 

 so widely the different sections of the genus from one another as prac- 

 tically to deny that they are interrelated at all. New Zealand contri- 

 butions on the subject, in addition to Thomas's i^reliminary note on the 

 prothallus of Phylloglossum (16), have been Miss Edgerley's account (8) 

 of three species of prothallus, and my own papers on Lycopodium stem- 

 anatomy (11) and on the protocorm (12). Unfortunately, I have not had 

 the advantage of consulting, for. the purpose of this present study, 

 either Treub's or Goebel's original publications. My knowledge of the 

 work of the former has been derived from various references to and 

 figures from it in Bower's "Origin of a Land Flora" and in other 

 standard books of reference, and also from Treub's own preliminary 

 note i.n the "Annals of Botany" (17), and Bower's "Review of L. 

 Phlegmaria " (2). 



After this paper had been put into the printer's hands I discovered 

 tTie prothallus and young plants of the endemic Z. ramulosum. Through 

 the courtesy of the Editors I have been able to add an account of these, 

 with several figures. 



