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dispersed; the marked longitudinal furrows may possibly 
be an indication of a longitudinal dehiscence of the 
capsule. 
While it is thus clear that the fossil, despite its 
general resemblance to the bryophytic sporogonium, 
cannot be referred to any of the existing groups of 
mosses, it is not even certain that it falls within the 
limits of the Bryophyta as determined by the living 
forms. It is also possible that it may represent the 
upper part only of a more highly developed sporophyte, 
perhaps somewhere on the pteridophytic line of descent: 
at present there is no direct evidence on this point. 
The Bryophyta are not known with certainty to extend 
further back than to the Tertiary, and their absence in 
the abundant petrified material from the Carboniferous 
is certainly striking. Quite apart from the question of 
the first appearance of the bryophytes, the Röragen 
material proves that the sporogonium as a type of 
structure existed in the oldest scanty land flora known 
to us. Despite the frequently claimed absence of any 
certain traces of the Bryophyta during almost the 
wholespan of geological history, we are thus perfectly 
justified historically in considering the sporogonium 
as an early type and a possible starting-point in the 
development of the land-flora. 
The plant-remains here shortly described will be 
more fully dealt with in a paper on the Lower Devo- 
nian flora of Röragen to be published before long. 
Bot. Not. 1916. 
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