(lacking whorls of appendages) is suggested by the pres¬ 
ence of a “leaf-less” axis measuring 1.5 centimeters in 
length (Fig. II). This may be the basal portion of one 
of the closely adjacent “leafy” axes. 
Unfortunately, in the material at present available, 
no fertile parts are recognizable. Consequently, the so¬ 
lution of the extremely important problem of the form 
and placement of the sporangia of Sphondylophyton hy- 
enioides must await the discovery of further material. It 
is not impossible that the several portions which appear 
to be terminal (with closely set whorls) may actually be 
sporangiophoric in nature. 
The close resemblance of the axes of Sphondylophyton 
hyenioides to certain algae must be considered. In meg¬ 
ascopic aspect, this plant does not seem to be remote 
from some of the whorled algae. This may be significant 
in placing Sphondylophyton very near the ancestral algal 
type in the origin of the sphenopsids. The whorled condi¬ 
tion is not uncommon among the algae, especially among 
the grass-green algae, the Chlorophyceae. The microscop¬ 
ic Algites Cranii Kidston & Lang (8) (Characeae ?) of 
the Lower Devonian of Rhyme, Scotland, possesses a 
verticillately branched axis. Among the freshwater algae 
of the present, the Characeae (species of Chara and Ni- 
tella) are whorled. Arber (l) points out that Crouania 
and Lomentaria resemble the sphenopsid habit, but are, 
of course, marine forms. 
It is suggested, however, that Sphondylophyton hyen¬ 
ioides represents a land plant of the early sphenopsid com¬ 
plex and not an alga. The reasons for this opinion may 
be stated as follows: 1 , Sphondylophyton grew in asso¬ 
ciation with a typically terrestrial flora; 2, the habitat 
was non-marine, occasionally flooded by fresh water, and 
no living non-marine verticillate alga nor any known 
whorled fossil algal form is so large as Sphondylophyton, 
[28] 
