132 



THE MARATTIALES 



this is not ordinarily the case. In one instance in this species I observed a division by 

 a vertical wall, so that two neck canal cells were formed, placed side by side, in a way 

 recalling very strongly the division of the neck canal cell described by Jeffrey in 

 certain species of Equisetum (Jeffrey 2). The central cell is divided again by a hori- 

 zontal wall into two nearly equal cells, the lower one being the egg, the upper one the 

 ventral canal cell. The mature egg is nearly elliptical in form, the upper third being 

 almost homogeneous and quite colorless, forming the so-called receptive spot. The 

 nucleus is of moderate size and does not stain very strongly. The archegonium of 

 Angiopteris closely resembles that oi Marattta, but is perhaps somewhat narrower 

 (fig. loi). 



Jonkmann figures the archegonium of M. cicutcefolia, which shows that this 

 species also is, in the relative size of the canal and neck cells, very much like Angi- 

 opteris. Farmer thought that a basal cell was usually, if not always, present, and my 

 own studies tend to confirm this. 



v.c: 



Fig. T02. 

 Archegonia of X'suZ/uijia. X210. i, basal cell; d, egg; », ventral canal cell; n. c, neck canal cell. 



In Kaulfussia (fig. 102) the archegonia form, as a rule, only after the antheridia 

 have ceased to develop. Compared with the other Marattiaceze they are decidedly 

 large, and in this respect Kaulfussia approaches Ophioglossum. Like the mother 

 cell of the antheridium, there is a good deal of variation in the width of the young 

 archegonium in Kaulfussia. Some of the narrower types recall the archegonium 

 of Anthoceros and emphasize the resemblances between the archegonium of the 

 Anthocerotaceae and the eusporangiate ferns. The neck of the archegonium is very 

 short, each of the four original neck cells often dividing only once, so that there may 

 be but two cells to each of the four rows. More commonly, however, there is a 



Fig. 103. 

 Young archegonia of Danxa elli/ttlca. X350. 



second division in some of the cells, so that each row consists of three cells The 

 nucleus of the broad neck canal cell probably always divides, but the number of 

 available specimens was too small to decide whether or not there is ever formed a 

 division wall between these, although it is not at all unlikely that this may occur. 

 Ihe ventral canal cell is conspicuous and equals its sister cell, the egg, in breadth. 

 In the peripheral portion of all the axial cells of the archegonium there are many 

 small granules of starch. Jonkmann figures similar starch granules in both Marattia 

 and Angioptertf. 



