262 Transactions. 



Ill one instance I found a little group of fourteen prothalli actually 

 touching one another in the humus underlying the moss, two of these 

 prothalli being very small, not more than ^ mm. in size, and two others 

 being old and exhausted. The prothalli were always buried to the depth 

 of 1-5 cm., and occurred either in the humus underlying the covering 

 of moss and Helichrysiwi or deeper still in the clayey substratum. I 

 visited this spot frequently during three years, and on the last occasion 

 found many very small and young prothalli. It was noticeable that 

 tlie young plants invariably died after they had attained a length of 

 2 in. or 3 in. The patches in which the young plants and prothalli 

 occurred did not die during the heat of the summer. All the ridges and 

 hills in this neighbourhood were once covered with southern-beech forest 

 and were still covered with the stumps of the trees, and it was ascertained 

 that this particular ridge was burned off about fifteen or sixteen years 

 before. Judging from the facts here stated, I am inclined to think that 

 the spores were not blown from Mount Oxford, but had been shed from 

 some mature plants which grew on the spot before the forest was removed. 

 When the forest was burned the soil naturally would be very much dis- 

 turbed and overturned, and favourable conditions would be set up for 

 the germination of the spores and development of the prothalli. This 

 would indicate that a long period of time is necessary for the develop- 

 ment of sexually produced plants, a conclusion which is in accord with 

 the observations of Bruchmann (6) in the case of the European species 

 L. clavatum, L. complanatum, and L. annotinum. In several lowland 

 localities near Hokitika, Westland, I have found young plants of 

 L. fastigiatum. 



L. scariosum. 



I have collected about sixty prothalli of this species from two different 

 localities on the Dun Mountains, Nelson, and from the Mount Oxford 

 ridge mentioned above, and from a roadside clay cutting at Lake 

 Kanieri. Westland, and have observed the young plants in various 

 other localities. This species also would seem to proj^agate itself freely 

 from spores when favourable conditions are present. Tlie prothalli are 

 always subterranean, and are more deeply buried than are those of 

 L. voluhile or L. fastigiatum, in some cases lying at a depth of 8-10 cm. 

 Several times I have found the young plants of L. voluhile and 

 L. scariosum growing together, and in one instance dug the prothalli 

 also of both species from the same patch of soil. Both the prothalli 

 and also the youngest plants of these two species are easily to be dis- 

 tinguished from each otlier, the former because they belong to different 

 types, and the latter because in the case of L. scariosum they are much 

 stouter and coarser in appearance than in the other species, and also 

 develop their characteristic form of heterophylly much earlier. 



Summary. 



The chief mode of propagation of the Lycopodiums is no doubt the 

 vegetative one. Compared with other Pteridophytes, even with the Ferns, 

 this character is most extensively developed in the Lycopodiums. One 

 finds large areas covered by some one species or other, as, for example, 

 by L. voluhile, L. densum, L. laterale, L. fastigiatum, or L. 7-amulosum, 

 where in all probability the original individuals were the only ones which 

 had been produced sexually. In this connection we notice that the form 

 of most of the terrestrial species is well adapted to this end. It is long 

 drawn out w^ith branches of unlimited growth, in many cases the stems 



