62 PHOCICEDIXGS or THE 



s.'en in the N y in plucaceye, and the Primulaceao : and tlie results 

 were publisiied in 1897 ; tlie former in a memoir in the 

 ' Transactions ' of this Society (" On the Morplioloj^y and 

 Anatomy of the Nyniphjcacese "), the latter in the 'Annals of 

 IJotany ' (" On Polystely in the genus Primula"). At the British 

 Association INIeeting at Liverpool in 1896 he gave a preliminary 

 account of his observations, which showed his hearers that not 

 only a new investigator, but also a new teacher had appeared. 

 It led to his appointment as Assistant in the Botanical Depart- 

 ment of Glasgow University. Lang was already a member of the 

 staff there, and for ten years these two, with the Professor, 

 worked together, each in his several May but with full mutual 

 knowledge, upon problems relating to the Pteridophyta. 



The anatomical experience of Gwynne-Vaughan, and his grasp 

 of stelar questions as illusti'ated in flowering plants, fitted him to 

 enter with special insight into the investigation of the anatomy 

 of the Filicides. Mr. Boodle was already engaged at Ivew in 

 similar work. But by mutual consent it was arranged that while 

 he undertook more especially the Schizaeacese, Gleicheniaceae, and 

 Ilymenophyllaceoe, Gwynne-Yaughan should devote himself to 

 types which showed greater advance in anatomical complexity. 

 Accepting the protosteiic state as probably the primitive condition 

 i'or all, it became necessary by patient observation and comparison 

 to relate to it the more complex states already recognised by 

 Van Tieghem as " polystelic." Gwynne-Vaughan approached 

 this naturally through those types with a tubular stele in the 

 axis, which he designated " solenostelic," reviving a tei-m already 

 introduced by Van Tieghem. A careful analysis of the anatomy 

 of Loxsorna, as a typical example of this structure, was followed 

 by comparisons with numerous other genera, such as HypoJepis, 

 DennstmUia, and Pteris. The gradual steps to dictyostely were 

 thus traced, and the demonstration given that not only by 

 C(nnparison, but also in the individual life (e. g. AlsophUa), the 

 transition depends upon the overlapping of the foliar gaps in an 

 abbreviated axis. The facts were endjodied in two i)apers entitled 

 " Observations on the Anatomy of Solenostelic Ferns," published 

 in the 'Annals of Botany,' 1901, 1903. These contain a great 

 body of condensed comparative observation, showing that soleno- 

 stely and dictyostely are related conditions. The origin of 

 medullary vascular tracts within the solenostele was also traced 

 from their simplest beginnings. 



But still there remained the more difficult question how the 

 solenostelic state itself was related to the protosteiic. Towards 

 the solution of this problem, resort was made to comparison of 

 certain fossils related to the living Osniundaceaj. The work was 

 carried out in happv co-operation with Dr. Eobert Kidston, 

 FMi.S., of Stirling. This co-operation was real and equivalent. 

 The one partner brought to bear on the problem a wide know- 

 ledge of fossils from the stratigraphical point of view ; and he 

 liad already taken up a cognate enquiry in the Sigillarias. The 



