lOS NOTKS (»N r.KlAN I'l.ANTS IM'.MI A l.l.OW. 



Ipoii ;m iiilontiMl ("XiimiiiMl i<»ii I \\;is iiicliiuMl to icjiard llu'iu as 

 ;Uto,U(MlitM(lisliM('l iVom llidist rites Itccliciiitunis {\om), io w hifli corlaiii 

 of (liom had been rd'crn'd: but, al'lcr caroCuIIy (U'scribini;- cacli sopa- 

 rati'ly and (•onipaiinu' Humu witli one aiiolliiM-, it bocamo cvithMit tliat a 

 m'nt'ric ivlatioiiship cxisttMl bctwoon tluMU, wliilo rei)t'at«'d oxamiiia- 

 tionsoidy tiMub'd to sliiMiiitlicii tlu>vi«'\v tliat some at li>ast could be 

 i(b'iiliti«'d with HdlistrHts, whWo oth(M-s iiiiist be m'ail\ rohitcd. In 

 orthMto astortaiii thoir propiM- vchitioiiships it will be <l('sirabh> t(» cx- 

 aiuiuo tho i'haractiMs of the jii'iuis Ihilist rites as (Muploycd by Sternbor}? 

 and lioppiMt and compare this utMiuswith thriuodcrn mMicia Ihiliseris 

 and Dieti/otd in order to asctM-tain upon w hicli it was based. 



Sternberu* applied tlu> follow inu' eharaetors to the u'emis Ilxliserites: 



FroiKs plana. iii(>int>r:niai'(>a, coslala. siiorauijia capsiilaria in laiuiua iVondis ad 

 I'ostaiu foai'orvala. 



Gi>]>port.t in assi^ninu' t he species PeeheiiidiiKs to this liiMius, describes 

 it in the following' terms: 



Kroii<li> plana atlcMiuatini tlirhotonio raniosa. raniis vanuilisinic lintarilnis costatis 

 MMpialihus apiit' (iiiaudotinc riri-hiatis, fostis iiu'diis. 



l-'rom this description, as also from his tijiures, it seonus i)robabhMhat 

 ho t'onfonniled Psilophiftoii with Ihtliserites. In fact some of his plants 

 referred to the latter have been shown lo belong- to the fornu>r. With 

 respect to what belonji' proptMly to Ihdiserites, he elsew heref speaks of 

 both broad and narrow forms. It is therelbre most probable that this 

 •icnns was based upon tlie modern species llaliseris (liehotonid Spren- 

 uel,§ as it shows also both narrow and broad Ibrms. and the ajircemeid 

 with //<»//,svr/7cN is very close throujihttut. but tlie llaliseris dieliotoina 

 of Sprcnu'cl is now />/(7//(>/a diehotonid of Lamonrconx, a fact which it is 

 important to ket'p in view, while we should also utit lose siiiht of the 

 fact that certain spi>cies of Dictyota. e. ji'. />. (tivariedta Ajih., show- 

 recurved terminations, wliicli, with the dichotomous division, ^Inc the 

 plant the appearanc(M)f many specinuMisof I'silophyton. Hdliseris and 

 I)ietiiot(i ditfer in their external characters, apart from the fruit, in the 

 fact that in the foruu'r there is a distinct midrib and the terminations 

 of the ultimate ramitications are simple, whih> in the latter the ramuli 

 are not costate ami their ttuininations ar»> uciunally bitid. Hoth ai^ree 

 in haviuii- a rciiularly dichotonunis frond with more-or less linear «livi- 

 sions.ll This, to.uether with the transfer to I\ilop}n/ton of a number of 

 plants originally refiurcd by (liippert to Ilaliserites, seems to render it 

 desirable to .uive a fresh dciinition of the I'haracters which distinguish 

 this latter ueinis. 



*Stornl>ov}; : \ ors.. II, l>. 31. 



tUovpcrt: Imiss. Flora dos (MxM-uaniism-liiisios, p. .ss, I'l. n. Sot- also pp. 10 and 



tlhid.. p. S5>. 



S^Sowoiby: K.nglish Txit.. xii. p. II. IM. 'J:%:^(>. 



||So\voi-l».v: i:ni;lish l>.)t.,xu. pp. lUS. lH. W.\. Uarvov : N<>n>is IJonali .Vnioriiana. 

 I, pp. 1(VJ. lOS. IM. \ II. A 



