370 Bower. — A Criticism , and a 
fungal hyphae with the rhizoids of both genera : these are 
applied closely to the surface of their walls, even in specimens 
of Diphyscium brought freshly from the country. Such a juxta- 
position may be merely accidental, though common : or the 
fungus may be simply parasitic, though I saw no perforation : 
or there may be a symbiotic relation between the organisms. 
I think such matters as these will have to be taken more fully 
into consideration before it can be admitted that Buxbaiwnia 
is really independent of external organic supply. It is not 
sufficient that Professor Goebel shall conclude, however justly, 
that c we have as yet no proof of the saprophytism of Bux- 
baumia' (l.c. p. ioi) ; before his view can be established, 
he must show that, notwithstanding the many suspicious 
points about its mode of life, Buxbaumia is really independent 
of saprophytic nourishment. 
I would even go further, and remark that, if Buxbaumia 
were proved to be quite independent of an organic substratum 
as regards its nutrition, that would not at all prove its primi- 
tive character ; for a saprophytic habit is only one of the 
factors which conduce to morphological reduction. 
The line which Professor Goebel would draw between 
a plant which has stood still at an early stage of development 
(p. 102) and such as have undergone reduction is one of the 
most blurred lines in all morphology. I confess that, though 
some of the facts adduced by him appear to support his 
conclusion, still, in view of the facts above noted, it seems to 
me at present more probable that Buxbaumia is a reduced 
rather than a really primitive type of moss ; and it would 
appear that the reduction has affected the vegetative organs 
of the moss-plant more than other parts. 
Professor Goebel has also compared the simple gameto- 
phyte of Buxbaumia with that of Trichomanes : the similarity 
is certainly obvious enough, but the question will be whether 
we see in it anything more than an example of parallel 
development — that is, of comparatively recent adaptation — 
of one genus or of both, to somewhat similar circumstances. 
There is a close similarity of the conditions to which the 
