72 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [January 



search for prothallia as well as in their identification, I have given 

 2 diagrams in figs. 14 and 15 to show the specific differences between 

 the juvenile leaves of the 4 species of sporelings which I obtained. 

 If the descriptions of these 4 species as given in Gray's Manual 

 are followed carefully, the specific differences may readily be 

 determined. The leaves of L. clavatum terminate in a bristle 

 even in a stage as young as that sporeling of L. annotinum shown 

 in figs. 10 and 11. I have not been able to separate sporelings of 

 these 2 species at such a young stage or younger by any other 

 character than by the presence or absence of the terminal bristle 

 on the leaf. At such a stage the leaves have not yet assumed 

 such very definite directions of growth as they do a little later, 

 and as indicated in a and c of fig. 15. The sporeling of L. obscurum 

 is easily identified by the 6 rows of leaves which early assume the 

 characters peculiar to this species. Of course in the sporeling 

 stage the leaves are fewer and more spreading than in the adult, 

 so that a hurried examination would scarcely show the relationship 

 between the two. I actually thought I was digging for a pro thai- 

 Hum of L. annotinum while removing the soil from around the 

 sporeling shown in fig. 13, and it was not until all the sand had 

 been removed from among the rhizoids of the prothallium, and 

 after the leaves had been examined under a lens, that I discovered 

 my error. The sporeling of L. lucidulum cannot be confused in 

 any way with the sporelings of any of the species I have mentioned. 

 However, one may very readily believe that he is digging up a 

 genuine one only to find that peculiar winged bud at the bottom 

 of it. Yet, although I have experienced this disappointment a 

 hundred or more times, through it I have observed that the spore- 

 lings bearing a foot grow just a trifle deeper in the ground. Gener- 

 ally the bud lies nearly or wholly on the surface, and unless it is 

 rotted away, is readily seen. The sporeling of Z,. lucidulum looks 

 exactly like one of the plants which grows from a bud, except that 

 it has a distinct foot. Both bear leaves like an adult plant. Some 

 of the plants in the vicinity are Morchella, Polytrichum Acer, 

 Populus, Pteris, Gaultheria, Rhus, and Poly gala. 



The largest specimen of L. annotinum (fig. 10) measured 10 

 X7 mm. It bore 3 sporophytes, one of which reached only 0.5 



