No. 483] STUDIES OF THE OPH lOGWSSACE.E 149 



how far this harmonized with the theory of i\\v iciininal naiiire 

 of the fertile spike. The arrangement of tlie l)nn(ilcs lia> aiivady 



been studied in the coninioiuT Kiir()[)eaii species, (). nibjafinn, 

 O. lusitanicuvi and B. lunaria. Bower has also investigated 

 this in O. hergianum, and more recently in 0. simplex, 0. pen- 

 dulum and O. palmatum (loc. cit. 1904). Of these forms the writer 

 has examined O. pendulum, and in addition to this a number of 

 other species which have not been hitherto studied. 



In all of the species belonging to the section Euophioglossum 

 that have been examined, there is given off from the vascular 

 system of the rhi^conie a single leaf trace which divides at the base 

 of the leaf into two strands. Tliis is probably the case also in all 

 the forms associate.! with O. tNo/iiccanum (see Fig. 8). Accord- 

 ing to Praiitl. in (). I usitati iciini each of these two bundles gives 

 off a branch toward the a.hixial side of the petiole which unite and 



