V1 
lected at the same locality in Ceylon near Peradeniya, where 
my material was secured. In 1894, the writer ') described the 
gametophyte and embryo in Marattia douglasu Baker, collected 
in the Hawaiian Islands, and in 1896, Brebner*) gave an ac- 
count of the most important points in the Danaea simplicifolia 
Rudge. Finally Jonkman’*) published an account of the em- 
bryology of Marattia and Angiopteris, which was, however, 
largely based upon the papers previously published by himself 
and others. This, with the writer’s recent paper on Kaulfussia, 
completes the list of publications, so far as I am aware, upon 
the early stages of these interesting ferns.. 
The gametophyte in the Marattiaceae is capable of an unusual 
degree of independent growth, sometimes attaining a length of 
2 to 3 centimeters and having a thick, fleshy thallus merging 
gradually into thinner wings, which, however, except at the 
extreme edge, are always more than one cell thick. This large, 
fleshy thallus strikingly resembles such a liverwort as Pellia 
or Anthoceros, and it is not rare to find them branched, either 
by a dichotomy of the original apex or by adventitious buds. 
In one prothallium of Danaea jenmani Underw. examined by 
the writer, there were four growing points, each developing a 
group of archegonia. 
oe The large, long-lived prothallium of the Marattiaceae, together 
With the peculiar structure of the reproductive organs, which 
shows striking analogies with those of the Anthocerotes, led 
me to suggest that the Marattiaceae and the other eusporangiate 
ferns were the most primitive of the ferns instead of the most 
Specialized, as had been previously assumed to be the case. This 
view is confirmed by a study of the embryo, and the fossil 
record is also entirely in accord with it’). 
1) Campbell, D. H.: Observations on the Development of Marattia douglasii Baker, 
Ann. Bot. VIII. March. 1894. 
2) Brebner, G.: On the Prothallus and Embryo of Danaea simplicifolia Rudge. 
Ann Bot X p. 109. 1896. 
3) L’Embryogénie de I Angiopteris et du Marattia. Arch. Néerlandaises. V. 30 
P. 213930, : 
4) Campbell, D. H.; Affinities of the Filicineae. Bot. Gaz. XV. June, 1890. 
