348 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [October 



africanae XL VI" several new species are described, and the following new 

 genera are proposed: Isoberlinia and Paradaniellia of the Leguminosae, and 

 Klaineanthus and Hamilcoa of the Euphorbiaceae. — J. M. Greenman. 



Recent work among Filicales. — Davis 23 has investigated the struc- 

 ture of Peranema and Diacalpe, Asiatic genera of ferns whose relationships have 

 been somewhat doubtful. Both genera are polystelic; and while in Peranema 

 the short-stalked sorus is a mixed one, with a receptacle of the Gradatae type 

 and traces of a basipetal succession of sporangia, in Diacalpe the mixed sorus 

 shows no traces of basipetal succession. Moreover, in Peranema the annulus 

 is slightly oblique, while in Diacalpe it "is vertical in insertion, but slightly 

 twisted in its course across the sporangial head." Both show relationships to 

 species of Nephrodium, but are most nearly related to Woodsia and Hypo- 

 derris," and fall naturally into the Woodsieae-Woodsiinae group of Polypo- 

 diaceae," a group that is regarded as intermediate between Cyatheaceae and 

 the Aspidieae. The conclusion is suggested that the Aspidium forms have 

 come from a Gradatae ancestry, and "that Peranema and Diacalpe are relatively 

 early members of a phyletic drift to the Polypodiaceae." 



Bower 2 * has used a study of Alsophila (Lophosoria) pruinata as the basis 

 for a discussion of an important phyletic sequence. Lophosoria is shown to be a 

 more primitive type than the true species of Alsophila and worthy of generic 

 separation from that genus. The phyletic relations with Struthiopteris, Onoclea, 

 Cystopteris, Acrophorus, Peranema, Diacalpe, Woodsia, and Hypoderris are 

 discussed and the following " progressions " announced: (i) the frequent dichoto- 

 mous branching in Gleicheniaceae becomes rarer in the higher types, and the 

 creeping axis of the earlier forms becomes ascending or erect in some of the 

 later ones"; (2) "the peculiarities of the original gleicheniaceous type of leaf 

 are shown in reminiscent details in the Cyatheaceae, but lost elsewhere"; 

 (3) progression from primitive hairs to scales; (4) progression from the proto- 

 stele of § Martensia of Gleichenia to the solenostele of G. pectinata and Lopho- 

 soria, and the polystele of all other members of the series; (5) progression from 

 the Simplices type of sorus {Gleichenia and Lophosoria) to the Gradatae type 

 in Cyatheaceae, and finally to the Mixtae type in Hypoderris, Peranema, and 

 Diacalpe, "a condition leading probably to that of the Aspidieae"; (6) pro- 

 gression from a larger spore-output and an oblique annulus to a smaller output 

 and a vertical annulus; (7) progression from a larger sperm-output to a 

 smaller one. 



This series is believed by Bower to constitute a true phylum, a phylum 

 quite distinct from that of the ferns with originally marginal sori. The prob- 



*i Davis, R. C, The structure and affinities of Peranema and Diacalpe. Ann. 

 Botany 26:245-268. ph. 28,29. 1912. 



2 " Bower, F. O., Studies in the phytogeny of the Filicales. II. Lophosoria, and 

 its relation to the Cyatheoideae and other ferns. Ann. Botany 26:269-323- P ls ' 

 30-36. 1912. 



