On Stigeosporium Marattiacearum and the Mycorrhiza 
of the Marattiaceae. 
BY 
CYRIL WEST, B.Sc., F.L.S. 
With Plate III and nine Figures in the Text. 
OTWITHSTANDING the attention which has for many years been 
1 N bestowed upon the Marattiaceae and the frequent references to the 
presence of a mycorrhiza, our present knowledge of the endophytic fungi 
which are commonly associated with the roots of this important group of 
Ferns is very incomplete, and, apart from the observations of Ktihn and of 
Gallaud, practically nothing is known of their morphological and biological 
characters or of their systematic position. 
In his thesis on the Marattiaceae, Ktihn ( 28 ) reserved a section for 
a short account of the fungi which he observed in roots of Angiopteris 
evecta , Hoffm., Kaulfussia aesculifolia , Bl., and Marattia alata , Sm., and, in 
the case of the last-named genus, claimed to have succeeded in isolating an 
endophyte which produced spores when grown on artificial nutrient media. 
But, for reasons mentioned below (p. 90), it seems certain that this botanist 
was dealing not with the endophytic but with the epiphytic fungal flora 
of the marattiacean roots. Gallaud (22, p. 40) very briefly described the 
endophyte which he found in the roots of Angiopteris Dnrvilleana . 
The present writer, who was fortunate in having abundant material 
at his disposal, has therefore attempted to give a more detailed account 
of these fungi. 
Material and Methods. 
Material of Angiopteris evecta , Hoffm., Danaea alata , Sm., Danaea 
nodosa , Sm., Kaulfussia aesculifolia , Bl., and Marattia Cooperi , Mre., was 
examined, together with a few pieces of root from a herbarium specimen 
of Archangiopteris Henryk Chr. et Gies., which was soaked out in 
80 per cent. NH 3 OH 1 with most successful results. 
The greater part of the material was fixed in 75 per cent, alcohol 4- 
glycerine : for ordinary histological work this mixture gave very good 
results, but rendered a careful cytological investigation impossible. 
1 According to the method described by M. Raciborski in Flora, Bd. lxxxi, 1895, p. 153. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXXI. No. CXXI. January, 1917.] 
