1922] SPESSARD—LYCOPODIUM 395 
gators consistently fail to uncover prothallia with adult sporophytes 
where the latter are growing thickly, in the opinion of the writer 
does not negative the probability, for it is most tedious to hunt the 
plants under these conditions. BRUCHMANN (1) has investigated 
old areas of sporophytes probably more carefully than any other 
investigator, but his method was first to remove the adult plants 
and then to look for sporelings. In doing this the majority of them 
would be destroyed. The writer has investigated the older plant 
areas, both by the method of BRUCHMANN and without first remov- 
ing the adults. Four prothallia were found by the latter method 
and none by the former. Since the chief object was to secure 
prothallia, the waste of time necessary to secure only a few speci- 
mens among adult sporophytes caused the writer to abandon such 
areas. 
The question naturally arises as to how the adult plants of 
L. lucidulum reach the habitats which are more moist than that of 
the prothallia. Let us assume that a prothallium has succeeded 
in growing on the side of a knoll or a hill, and that at the bottom 
of this knoll or hill is a moister habitat favorable for the growth 
of adult sporophytes. When the sporeling breaks through the 
surface of the ground it faces the hazards of drought and too much 
sunlight. If these are simultaneous or of sufficient duration, the 
plant must surely die. The observations of the writer are that this 
is a constant catastrophe in the struggle of these delicate plants. 
Occasionally, however, we may expect to find a plant growing under 
the conditions of a wet season. Then it progresses rapidly and 
becomes a hardy specimen. When it becomes an adult it is capable 
of producing spores and gemmae. It seems likely that it is the 
gemmae that play the chief réle in further distribution, for when 
small clusters of these adult plants are found they almost invariably 
bear numerous gemmae, but rarely sporangia. When the gemmae 
fall in habitats favorable for the growth of prothallia, they may 
germinate well, and even form normal sporelings, but it is a sig- 
nificant fact that they appear unhealthy and generally show the 
incipient stages of extinction. On the other hand, those that reach 
a moister region, like that at the bottom of our assumed knoll or 
hill, grow vigorously. 
