12 PEssIN: EpIPHYLLOUS PLANTS OF JAMAICA 
leaf. Such cases, however, are extremely rare. In a third possible 
method of dispersal, spores, gemmae, or seeds may be washed down 
by the dripping water from above, or may be blown from adjacent 
plants by the wind. This method is particularly common among 
algae and lichens. The first two types of vegetative propagation 
seem to be the commoner ones, for in many instances the epiphyl- 
lous forms growing on the stem have actually been observed to 
spread over the surface of the leaf. Moreover, many of the forms 
found on the leaves occur likewise on the stem of the supporting 
plant. This is particularly true of hepatics and mosses. In 
lichens, however, the case may be different. There the alga, as 
well as the component fungus, may often be present separately on 
the leaf; each may reach the leaf in the form of loose spores or 
fragments, and there combine to give rise to the lichen itself. 
Massart (3) failed to find in Java any epiphyllous pteridophytes 
and phanerogams. In the tabulated lists of epiphyllous plants of 
Jamaica in this paper it will be noted that no pteridophytes have 
been found. Although many fern sporangia were observed among 
the epiphylls by the writer, no germinating fern spores or fern 
prothallia were seen. The writer, however, found a few epiphyl- 
lous phanerogams. These were very young plants of the genus 
Caraguata attached to the surface of the leaf, and apparently doing 
well. How much further their development would continue is 
hard to tell, for the substratum is not firm enough to support a 
mature wild pine; before the epiphyllous wild pine could have time 
to mature, the supporting leaf would probably be shed. The fact 
is, at all events, that no mature wild pines were found growing on 
leaves. According to Massart, the epiphyllous plants do not 
constitute.a similar flora everywhere; in some localities this consists 
solely of thallophytes, in others of bryophytes. This is also true 
for Jamaica, where in certain regions only one type occurs, while 
in other regions numerous diverse forms are present. 
Massart’s suggestion that the leaf-inhabiting fungus has been 
derived from the epiphyllous plant is at least favored by the rela- 
tion to its host of the alga Cephaleuros, which may have either the 
parasitic or the epiphytic mode of life. On the other hand, there 
are still some fungi which possess the epiphyllous habit, such as 
Metiola astrina and a few others. There seems little doubt that 
