114 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



elude the full number of species to be found within the limits of the terri- 

 tory which these works are intended to include. 



Of the nine species of Botrychium, acknowledged by Milde in his mono- 

 graph ot the genus, we are fortunate in being able to find six (possibly 

 seven) in this country. Within a year. ''Botrychium simplex" and ''Ver- 

 nation in Botrychiums/' by Geo. E. Davenport, and description of most of 

 the species of Botnjchmm in the ''Ferns of North America," l)y Prof. D. 

 C. Eaton, have made their appearance, adding much of value to the litera- 

 ture of the subject as far as the American species are concerned. Yet we 

 are still obliged to seek among foreign authoi-s information concerning 

 their structure, the position of the Ophiof/Iossacxe in the vegetable kingdom 

 and their relations to other nearly allied plants. 



In Sachs's "Text Book of Botany'' are to be found the results of the 

 later investigations regarding the structure, mode of growth, and method 

 of reprodactiou oF the class Ophioghssacece, which includes three genera 

 only, viz: Opliio(/lossniH, Hel)ninfhost((cliys and Botri/chinDt. If we ex- 

 amine any of the native species of Botri/cJiiinn when they are first develop-, 

 ing their fronds, we shall find at the outset that, unlike the Ferns, which 

 are circinate in their mode of vernation, the Botnjchia develop their fronds 

 from the ground in an erect position, and if the base of the plant is exam- 

 ined under the microscope, the buds for several succeeding years will be 

 f juud one below another, still in an erect position, the rudimentary sterile 

 ;i il fertile fronls in th? in>5b highly developed buds clasping each other-. 

 This mode of growth is the same with all the plants of the class Ophio- 



As far as is now known, the growth of the prothallus from the spore 

 takes place under the ground; at least this is the case with those plants in 

 this class of which the prothallus has been observed. The prothallus is 

 very small, not over 2 mm. in diameter, has but few root hairs, and is desti- 

 tute of chlorophyll; while with the true Ferns the prothallus is often 6 or 

 T mm. in diameter, has a profusion of root hairs, contains much chloro- 

 phyll, and develops above the ground. In fact the Ferns have a much 

 o-reater thalloid exhistance in every way than the Opliiocfhi^sacece. The 

 spores of the Ferns are in cases, which are developed from the outer laj'er of 

 cells of the frond, and are therefore to be cojisidered as trichomes. The spores 

 of the Ophioglossacea\ on the contrary, are derived" from the inner tissue of 

 the fertile spike or frond which bears them, and therefore cannot be referred 

 to trichomes, but, as Sachs suggests, more strongly resembles the produc-. 



