1919.} The Sixth Indian Science Congress. elv 
a very remote one.” As a matter of fact we can safely say 
that there is no connection at a 
In Chara the antheridia and oogonia: have a certain resem- 
blance to the antheridia and archegonia of the Bryopliytes in 
so far that they are multicellular and have a similar shape but 
their mode of development and the structure of the thallus of 
Chara are entirely different from those met with in the Bryo- 
phytes, while anything like a sporogonium even in the most 
rudimentary condition is unknown in Chara. 
The multilocular sporangium of Eetocarpus has served as 
an organ from which the antheridia and archegonia of. the 
Bryophytes might be derived according to Davis. Apart from 
the purely hypothetical nature of the derivation there is noth- 
ing in this Alga which can show in any way that it has any- 
thing to do with the ancestry of the Liverworts 
nder the influence of a pet theory various attempts have 
been made to derive the Liverworts from the Algae by imagin- 
ing hypothetical processes and even ie pee eR forms, and 
the undisputable fact that no connection can be demonstrated 
and the obvious conclusion that therefore aes is most prob- 
ably no grea a between the two have been ignored. Let 
us accept the fact that no connection has been demonstrated 
and also the se i et that therefore there is no connection 
between the two. We shall see presently that this conclusion 
harmonises with that arrived at by a consideration of the com- 
parative morphology of the Liverworts. 
On the other hand if we consider the Liverworts in rela- 
tion to the Pteridophytes we find several common features in 
the two groups. The thallus of some Liverworts is very much 
the general structure of the sex organs in c t of the 
two groups is very similar; and the process of spore-formation 
is the same in both. annot believe as Tansley does - 
tures on the Evolution of the Filicinean Vascular System) that 
such characters have developed independently. They plainly 
show a common origin. The question only is whether we are 
to consider these forms in an upward line or a downward direc- 
