vSPOROPHYTE. 



near to the stem apex (see table l) and lengthen rapidly. I have one 

 which is 24.5 cm. long and the broken ends were frequently found at a 

 distance of 20 cm. from the stem. It is likely that these lengths are not 

 much exceeded. The rootlets are generally alternate on opposite sides of 

 the primary root-axis, but many exceptions occur. Two rootlets are often 

 TABLE 2. found conseciitively on one side, and in 



one case five were seen . Successive root- 

 lets may be as much as 8 mm. apart or 

 almost or quite opposite (figs. 6, 7, 8; 

 table 2). None occur usually within 12 

 or 15 mm. of the stem. 



Table 2 shows irregularities in alter- 

 nate arrangement of rootlets on opposite 

 sides of roots. The figures indicate 

 distance in millimeters of each rootlet 

 from the one next above it, and columns 

 show alternation. 



The root-cap is rather long and pointed 

 (fig. 23). From the initial cell of the 

 root outward ten rows of cells may be 

 seen in a strongly developed specimen, 

 five in a slender root of a sporeling. 

 Outside of these cell-layers a worn-out 

 layer is seen, in the act of sloughing off . 

 The inner layers are small-celled and 

 rich in protoplasm. The outermost cells 

 are four times the diameter of the inner, 

 but still nucleated . Indeed , small , dense , 

 nucleolus-like nuclei are seen even in the 

 layer that is shedding. The cap thins 

 out layer by layer along the sides of the 

 root, and the cells become very long and 

 narrow. The outermost layer persists 

 some distance above the next inner one. 

 No sign of statolith bodies has been 

 seen in any part of the root-cap. 



In development, each terminal segment of the root-initial gives rise to 

 a single layer of root-cap cells.* The segment divides first by an anti- 

 clinal wall parallel to one of the sides of the initial (figs. 10, 11, 26). In 

 successive cap segments the first wall of one stands either directly over or 

 at an angle of 60 to that of the preceding or following one, and not at 



*In a few cases periclinal walls were seen in three to five or six of the median cells, 

 making the segment two-layered at that point (fig. 24). 



