94 



Lamina has a length of 3 cm measuring 4 mm in the widest portion. 

 The median iascia does not make its appearance in this stage and a 

 longitudinal row of 3 or 4 roundish elevations of the surface occupies 

 the median portions, the remaining part being flat. The lower end of 

 stipe forms a primary holdfast which is a small disc, crenated into about 

 5 small lobes. Those lobes in the other specimen grow out into finger- 

 like processes, which measure 1 — 2 mm in length. 



In the next stage the secondary holdfasts make their appearance. 

 They arise just above the primary one as a whorl of small protuberances 

 (Fig. 9 — 10). These protuberances, 5 — 7 in number, extend at first in 

 a nearty horizontal direction in finger-like processes and then more and 

 more obliquely downwards. When they reach the substratum they 

 flatten their tips against it and become attached to it. The specimen 

 in this stage has a stipe of 3 mm long and has broader lamina whose 

 apex is blunt and truncated from having lost the terminal portion. 

 The lamina is 8 mm in breadth in the broadest portion and has 

 somewhat cuneate base. The median fascia now makes its appearance 

 like a fine c osta, along both sides of which roundish angular elevations of 

 surface are arranged alternately, reminding; us with protovertebraa of 

 chick's embryo. 



About the formation of the next whorl and the persistence or dis- 

 appearance of the two preceding holdfasts I can say nothing, on account 

 of the want of suitable materials for investigation. -But, we may guess 

 that the n^xt whorl above the second is formed in a manner essentially 

 the same as that in which the second whorl has developed. Root-fibres 

 coming forth more afterwards, at any rate, become longer and several 

 times branch dichotomously and their tips are flattened against the 

 substratum. As the plant grows more and more, roots are formed one 

 after . another and those formed previously are replaced by others. 

 Finally in a fully grown fronds, root-fibres form a conical elevation. 



(To be continued.) 



