West. — A Contribution to the Study of the Marattiaceae . 393 
As long ago as 1857 Hofmeister (32 and 33) ascribed a three-sided 
apical cell to the stem of all known Vascular Cryptogams, and referred to 
Marattia cicutaefolia as an example of the Marattiaceae. 
Holle (34, p. 218 ; 35, p. 21) found a four-sided, long-drawn-out initial 
cell at the apex of the stem of Marattia cicutaefolia , and believed that a 
similar condition obtained in the stem of Angiopteris evecta ; but he admitted 
that in the latter genus the origin of the cells at the stem-apex cannot with 
certainty be traced back to the divisions of a single cell. 
Jonkman (38 and 39), on the other hand, described and figured 
(39, p. 225 ; PL VI, Figs. 13 and 18) a small-celled meristem at the apex of 
the stem of young sporophytes of Marattia and of Angiopteris , while Shove 
(58, p. 522) satisfactorily demonstrated several initial cells in the apical 
region of an old plant of Angiopteris . 
Text-fig. 20. Danaea alata , Sm. a. Transverse section of stem-apex of a very young 
sporeling showing the apical cell. B. Longitudinal section of stem-apex of a very young sporeling 
showing the apical cell, x 350. 
According to Brebner (10), Farmer and Hill (29), and Charles (23), 
a single initial cell occurs at the apex of the stem of sporelings of Danaea 
simplicifolia , Angiopteris evecta , and Marattia alata respectively. A similar 
view is held by Campbell (18, 19, 20, and 21), who also includes in this 
category the genera Kaidfussia and Macroglossum. 
For our knowledge of the cell-divisions at the apex of the stem of 
adult sporophytes, we are indebted to the investigations of Bower and of 
Charles. In an earlier communication, Bower (4, p. 579) stated that his 
observations on a well-grown plant of Angiopteris evecta , var. pruinosa , 
Kuntze, pointed clearly to the existence of a wedge-shaped apical cell, 
which was represented in PI. XXXVII, Fig. 9 of that work. This botanist 
(7, p. 327), however, subsequently arrived at the conclusion that in strongly 
