Notes. 
103 
results of comparison of normal specimens. Such comparison led 
Mettenius, Strasburger, Celakovsky, and others to recognize a re- 
lationship of the Ophioglossaceae to the Lycopods. This comparison 
has been developed at considerable length, on grounds not only of 
the similarity of the development and position of their spore-bearing 
members, but also by comparison of the synangia of the Psilotaceae ; 
the Gametophyte, also, and sexual organs and embryology, as far as 
known, have been taken into account, and a detailed comparison 
made of certain features in the anatomy of the Lycopods and Ophio- 
glossaceae. From these various sources a general support of the 
relationship has been traced, the nearest point of comparison appear- 
ing to be between 0. Bergianum and Phylloglossum Drummondii ; it 
is contended that this is not a case of mere mimicry, but of real 
relationship, though such relationship probably dates from a remote 
and unknown ancestry. 
Such a relationship would involve the idea of septation of the 
simpler type of Lycopodinous sporangium, to form the spike of 
Ophioglossum , but it has been shown that septation of a very similar 
nature has occurred in the anthers of certain Angiosperms, and that 
the developmental details of Ophioglossum are compatible with such 
a view. The conclusion of Celakovsky is, therefore, regarded as 
probably true, viz. ‘ that both the Lycopodiaceae and Ophioglossaceae 
sprang from a common stock, which had the simple sporophylls of 
the Lycopodiaceae. The Lycopods are probably, of living plants, the 
nearest prototypes of the Ophioglossaceae/ Thus, the view put 
forward is not new nor original, but, being now based on a wider area 
of fact, may take rank as a reasonably probable theory. 
A comparison of the Ophioglossaceae among themselves shows that 
probably the genus Ophioglossum forms a series of increasing com- 
plexity, extending from such types as O. Bergianum or lusitanicum 
to such forms as O. pendulum and palmatum . Comparison of a large 
number of specimens of the latter species shows that the many- 
spiked condition is led up to by specimens with one, two, or three 
spikes, which are matched by abnormal specimens of O. vulgatum. 
The view is put forward that the many-spiked condition occasionally 
met with in other species has become the typical state in O. palmatum , 
and that it has been brought about by a chorisis or interpolation 
similar to that of the stamens of certain Angiosperms. It is further 
to be added that the insertion of the spikes is commonly on the 
