9 
Evans . — Branching in the Leafy Hepaticae. 
which arises from the same segment as the branch (see Fig. 9), is much 
smaller than normal leaves and shows no indication of teeth, being merely 
acuminate at the apex. The first underleaf of the branch is so nearly 
ventral in position that it cannot be seen when the shoot is viewed from the 
dorsal surface. This underleaf is very minute and is undivided ; it is 
subulate in form and is usually only four or five cells long and three cells 
wide at the base. The second underleaf of the branch is normal in structure, 
and the same is true of the other leaves. 
In comparing Lepidozia with Sprucella Stephani remarks that one of 
the most important differences between the genera is in the insertion of the 
branches. He states that in Lepidozia a branch springs from the inner 
angle of a stem-leaf, which turns its 
concave surface towards the branch and 
thereby subtends it. In Sprucella , on 
the contrary, he describes the branch 
as springing from the outer angle of 
a stem-leaf, that is, from the angle 
which the ventral margin of the leaf 
forms with the stem. As the branch 
develops the leaf is said to be displaced 
to the dorsal surface of the stem and 
to appear partly on the stem and 
partly on the branch. He states 
further that there is no subtending 
leaf as in Lepidozia . It will be seen 
from the account given above that the 
branches in both genera spring from 
the outer angles of incomplete stem- 
leaves, belonging to the same lateral 
segments, and that the subtending leaf in Lepidozia is nothing more than 
the first underleaf of the branch, and is therefore homologous with the 
subulate underleaf at the base of the branch in Sprucella. If Stephani’s 
figure is examined (’ 91 , PI. XXIX, Fig. 35) it will be seen that this diminu- 
tive underleaf in Sprucella did not escape his attention, because he shows 
it clearly in the first branch on the left. He makes no allusion to it, how- 
ever, in his description. 
Mastigophora. — The rare M. Woodsii of western Europe is a somewhat 
doubtful member of this genus because its organs of reproduction are still 
unknown. When compared with the species already considered it shows 
an interesting peculiarity in its branches connected with the method of 
attachment of the first underleaf. The leaves in M. Woodsii are deeply 
bifid, the ventral lobe being smaller than the dorsal and usually more or 
less deeply subdivided (Fig, 10). The lobes are connected by a rounded 
Fig. 10. Mastigophora Woodsii. Moidart, 
Scotland (S. M. Macvicar). x 40. 
