476 Pearson . — Anatomy of the Seedling of 
carried further, inasmuch as the leaf is not simply pinnate 
as in Stangeria and other Cycadeae, but decompound, like 
a Marattia V The similarity between the leaves of Bowenia 
and the coal-measure fronds of N europteris and Alethopteris 
has been considered by Stur as evidence in favour of the 
Cycadean affinities of the latter genera 2 . 
A point of great physiological interest is the development 
of numerous curiously-branched apogeotropic roots from the 
upper part of the main root. The general appearance of 
one of these roots is represented in Fig. 3, prepared from 
a photograph of an old root kindly supplied to me by 
the Curator of the Royal Gardens, Kew. A physiological 
examination of these roots was not undertaken : but an 
interesting feature is the presence of Anabaena-fAzments in 
the majority of those examined. The Alga was found 
in all of a few roots obtained from Kew, and in some of 
those obtained from our own plants. As will be seen later, 
the method of occurrence of the Alga is very similar to 
that described by Reinke 3 in the subterranean roots of 
Cycas , Ceratozamia , Dioon , and Encephalartos . 
No Alga was found in the subterranean roots of Bowenia ; 
but, as the only material examined was obtained from the 
young plants, its general absence must not be concluded. 
It is worthy of notice that whilst in the cases described 
by Reinke 3 the Alga was found in portions of the tissue 
thickly covered by soil, and was thus placed very unfavour- 
ably for assimilation of C 0 2 , in Bowenia , on the other hand, 
it flourishes chiefly, if not entirely, in roots which are freely 
exposed to the atmosphere. 
My thanks are due to Mr. Lynch for the supply of the 
seedlings used in this investigation, which were grown at 
the University Botanic Gardens. Figure 1 represents a 
seedling of seven months’ growth. Except where specially 
mentioned, no plants older than this were examined. As 
1 J. D. Hooker, in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, loc. cit. 
2 A. C. Seward, The Wealden Flora, Part ii, p. 5. London, 1895. 
3 Reinke, * Zwei parasitische Algen,’ Bot. Zeitg., 1879, P* 473 * 
