210 Hollick: Status of Ophioglossum Alleni L. 



question, all of them from the type locality at Florissant, 

 Colorado. Among these I had no difficulty in finding a dozen 

 or more that showed, either distinctly or indistinctly, the 

 presence of some kind of a body, as described by Professor 

 Cockerell. Nine were selected for illustrating the err -al char- 

 acters, all of which were photographed and are .^produced, 

 natural size, on Plate io, figs. 6-ii, and on Plate ii, figs. 1-3; 

 and the latter three were also, enlarged so as to show the char- 

 acters more clearly. The three enlargments are reproduced 

 on Plate ii, figs. ia-3a. The salient characters that they 

 may be seen to reveal are: (1) a system of reticulate nervation, 

 with the nerves of uniform rank throughout; and (2) either an 

 indistinct thickening or a well defined, flattened spheroidal 

 body (occasionally two), located toward the middle of the 

 foliaceous organ. 



The general appearance of the specimens, however, strongly 

 suggests that they represent a flattened pod, or a detached 

 carpel of a pod, rather than a foliaceous organ, to which are 

 attached either immature, or imperfect, or mature and perfect 

 seeds. In certain of the specimens, as in those represented on 

 Plate ii, figs, i, ia, and 3, 3a, the seedlike bodies are appar- 

 ently in the superior position and are impressed on the exposed 

 surface of the specimens. In others, as represented on Plate 

 1 1, figs. 2, 2a, they appear to occupy the inferior position and 

 are more or less masked by the overlying tissue. The superior 

 position is also indicated in the specimens depicted on Plate 

 10. figs. 10, 11, and the inferior position in Figs. 6-9 on the 

 same plate. The latter figures also appear to represent more or 

 less immature or imperfect specimens; and in the specimen 

 represented by Fig. 8 the overlying tissue near the middle was 

 carefully chipped away from what appeared to be some kind 

 of a body beneath, but nothing was revealed except some 

 obscurely defined ridge and furrow markings that appear to repre- 

 sent a slight thickening or expansion of the median nerve or rib. 

 On Plate 12, fig. i, is shown a pressed capsule of Staphylea 

 trifolia Linnaeus, and in Fig. 2 the exterior of a detached carpel 

 of Koelr enter ia bipinnata Franchet. In each may be seen the 

 surface inequalities due to the underlying seeds. Fig. 3 repre- 

 sents the exterior of a carpel of Koelreuteria paniculata Laxman ; 

 Fig. 4, the interior with seeds attached to the alate expansion 



