iv. THE ANTHOCEROTES I59 



is radically different from that of the other Liverworts. Of the 

 lower Hepaticse Spliccrocarpus perhaps offers again the nearest 

 analogy to Nototliylas, but it would not be safe at present to 

 assume any close connection between the two. Of course the 

 very close relationships of the three genera of the Anthocerotes 

 among themselves are obvious. 



On the whole, then, the evidence before us seems to indicate 

 that the simplest of the existing Hepaticse are the lower thallose 

 Jungermanniales, and of these Sphcerocarpiis is probably the 

 most primitive. The two lines of the Marchantiales and Jun- 

 germanniales have diverged from this common ancestral type 

 and developed along different lines. The Anthocerotes cannot 

 certainly be referred to this common stock, and differ much 

 more radically from either of the other tw^o lines than these 

 do from each other, so that at present the group must be looked 

 upon as at best but remotely connected with the other Hepaticse, 

 and both in regard to the thallus and sporophyte has its nearest 

 affinities among certain Pteridophytes. The possibility of sep- 

 arate origin of the Anthocerotes from Coleochcete-Wkt ancestors 

 is conceivable, but it seems more probable that they have a com- 

 mon origin, very remote, it is true, with the other Liverworts. 

 They may probably best be relegated to a separate class, coordi- 

 nate with the Hepaticse and Musci. 



