215 
Bower . — Ophioglossum simplex , Ridley . 
which have been examined anatomically the leaf-trace unites at the base 
into a single strand before insertion on the system of the axis — a condition 
which would appear to be the more primitive, especially if the general view 
of the family be that they represent an ascending series from a small-leaved, 
polyphyllous ancestry 1 . But in § Ophioderma, of which O.pendidum and 
O. simplex have been examined (it was impossible to investigate the unique 
specimen of O. intermedium anatomically), the leaf-trace does not unite into 
a single strand at the base, but the individual strands are separately inserted 
on the system of the axis : this would appear to be the derivative con- 
dition, on any phyletic theory of the family as an ascending series of 
leaf complexity. I should propose, therefore, to add to Prantl’s diagnoses 
as follows: — for § Euophioglossum, ‘ petioli fasciculi basi tres, deinde in 
unum conjuncti, in rhizomae fasciculos insertum/ and for § Ophioderma 
‘ petioli fasciculi numerosi, separatim in rhizomae fasciculos inserti.’ The 
case is still open for § Cheiroglossa , in which I am not aware that the stock 
has yet been examined anatomically. The anatomical difference thus brought 
forward, though not one which can be readily applied in ordinary syste- 
matic work, is more distinctive and trustworthy than the number of bundles 
at the base of the petiole, and for this reason it is to be preferred, if such 
a character is to figure at all in the diagnosis of the sections of the genus. 
The provisional conclusion which may be drawn from the study of this 
new species, together with the two others which are grouped with it, in the 
§ Ophioderma , is this : that they form a natural group, anatomically dis- 
tinct, which illustrates three phases of proportion of the spike to the 
subtending leaf-lamina : in O. pendulum the sterile lamina is large, and 
sometimes irregularly branched ; in O. intermedium it is small and simple, 
while the spike is still of considerable dimensions ; in O. simplex it is 
absent, at least in the mature state, while the spike is still large. These 
three species may illustrate either a descending or an ascending series ; the 
more probable view seems to be that they illustrate a decrease of the sterile 
leaf, and the extreme condition of O. simplex is to be attributed to the 
presence of mycorhiza, which makes nutrition of the large spike still 
possible in the dense, wet forest in which it grows, notwithstanding that the 
usual assimilating organ is functionally non-existent. Reduction is, how- 
ever, not apparent in the spike itself, for, provided nutrition be kept up 
from whatever source, it would still maintain its character, being essentially 
a spore-producing, and not a nutritive member. 
The specimen — at least what remains of it after the anatomical investi- 
gation above described — together with the original drawing by Professor 
Groom, will be deposited, according to the wish of Professor Groom, in the 
botanical department of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. 
1 Compare Studies in Morphology of spore-producing members, Phil. Trans. 1903, B. vol. 
cxcvi, pp. 233-7. 
Q 
