2 Britton and Taylor : Life History of Schizaea pusilla 



A complete or correct description of 5. pusilla cannot be found 

 in any manual or monograph. In several the spores are said to be 

 smooth, and the glandular hairs borne by the leaves are not men- 

 tioned, though they are known on other species of this genus. 



The gametophyte is composed of numerous, erect, branch- 

 ing, dark green protonemal filaments ; monoicous, bearing from 

 5-12 archegonia, usually on a slightly thickened and expanded 

 series of cells in the nature of an archegoniophore (?) or directly on 

 the filaments ; antheridia more numerous, often on separate 

 branches and nearer the extremities of the filaments ; radicles sel- 

 dom borne on the filament but produced from specially modified, 

 large spherical cells, apparently in symbiotic relation with a fun- 

 gus. Sporophyte perennial, from a short erect or horizontal 

 rootstock, 5-10 mm. long, sterile leaf 2-5 cm. long by 0.5 mm. 

 broad, circinate, bearing small club-shaped hairs, nearly i mm. 

 long, occurring in three longitudinal rows on the dorsal surface, 

 alternating with two rows of stomata. Sporophyll 3-13 cm. long, 

 divided at summit into 14-16 fertile pinnae ; sporangia ovoid, with 

 a terminal ring : spores reniform, pitted, 76-84 11, maturing in 

 autumn. 



On low wet banks with sphagna or in sandy swamps, in the 

 shade of larger plants ; known from numerous scattered stations 

 in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, in Newfoundland (De La Py- 

 laie, Waghorne), and in Nova Scotia (E. G. Knight). The station 

 credited to New York by Prantl from the Berlin Herbarium, is 

 probably a mistake, though there is no reason why it should not 

 be found on the sandy plains of Long Island and Rhode Island. 



According to Prantl there are nineteen species of Schizaea, of 

 which five are Polynesian, eight are found in Brazil, and five in the 

 West Indies ; all are of restricted distribution, and in most species 

 they are known from few stations. Of Lygodiiun he records twenty- 

 two species, of which five are Mexican and Central American, four 

 West Indian and only one from northeastern North America, L. 

 palmatimi. Of the forty- six species of Omithoptcris and Anemia 

 known, Brazil has thirty-five, Mexico nine, the West Indies six 

 and only two extend into the United States, 0. adiantifolia (L.) 

 Bernh., and 0. Mexicana (Kl.) Underw. 



The Schizaeaceae are represented in the Tertiary by several 



