On some Normal and Abnormal Developments 
of the Oophyte in Trichomanes. 
BY 
F. O. BOWER, D.Sc., 
Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. 
With Plates XIV, XV, and XVI. 
Introduction. 
HE relation of the Vascular Cryptogams to the Muscineae 
is a matter which is now more than ever before the 
minds of botanists ; but the position of investigators is such 
that, while the grounds on which an opinion may be based 
are gradually becoming more consolidated, still new facts 
bearing on the point will be received with interest. The 
recent investigations of Treub and others on the oophyte of 
the Lycopods, and of Goebel on the prothalh of certain 
Hymenophyllaceae, serve to indicate that, though the 
characters of the spore-bearing generation (sporophyte) have 
hitherto formed the chief basis on which the affinities of the 
Vascular Cryptogams have been recognised, it is very essen- 
tial to acquire a knowledge of and to compare the sexual 
generation (oophyte) of the various groups of plants in ques- 
tion, and to apply such knowledge as a check upon the 
results otherwise obtained. As we descend in the scale, 
and approach those forms in which the sporophyte is less 
conspicuous, while the oophyte is more prominent, it is 
natural to expect that the characters of the oophyte will be 
of relatively greater taxonomic importance, and this is in 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. I. Nos. Ill and IV. February 1888.] 
