1 88 Phillips . — On the Development of the 
the second joint from the axis gives rise to a branch, which 
shares in the formation of a secondary sympodial axis of 
limited growth. Janczewski has observed that occasionally 
the procarp appears on the second joint itself. The occur- 
rence of a procarp does not, however, prevent the axis 
branching at that joint (Figs, i, 2, 3), and the younger branch 
may even fork once again (Fig. 3). The exhaustion of the 
axis occasioned by the formation of a procarp seems to set 
a limit to any considerable development of a sympodium 
beyond the procarp. It is therefore usual to find only three 
filaments, each consisting of about a score of cells, which 
persist until the maturation of the cystocarp. This is the 
so-called £ involucre ’ of the species. By some authors the 
cystocarp is spoken of as ‘ calcarated.’ In other Rhodo- 
melaceae I have invariably found that the procarp is borne 
upon the second joint of a lateral appendage, now usually called 
a leaf. The thallus of Dasya possesses no such lateral 
appendages, and the procarps, in common with other parts 
of the thallus, must be regarded as axial structures. Their 
occurrence upon a second or fourth joint of a seeming branch 
has thus no significance in the comparative morphology of 
the family. Kny found that the branches arise at times upon 
the third or fifth joint, and it is probable that the procarp will 
also be found in those situations. The persistence of the 
filaments in Dasya beyond the procarp must, no doubt, be 
correlated with the fact of its sympodial growth. The leaves 
of most Rhodomelaceae are fugitive structures, disappearing 
a short distance behind the growing apex, and when, in these 
cases, the procarp-bearing leaf withers away beyond the 
third joint, it may be regarded as exhibiting the same fugitive 
character. 
A common occurrence in Dasya coccinea is the relapse of 
a procarp into an ordinary corticated joint when no sper- 
matium reaches the trichogyne. Only a small proportion 
of the procarps formed at the apex mature into cystocarps, 
and every stage of retrogressive transformation may be 
observed. This is clearly a different process from that which 
