Bower. — Studies in the Phytogeny of the Fi tic ales. 369 
the sporangia themselves shows a similarity rather with Lophosoria , for the 
sporangium is large, with, it may be, over fifty cells in the annulus (Text- 
fig. 1), which shows signs of slight obliquity, but the succession is partially 
or completely interrupted at the in- 
sertion of the stalk. Glandular hairs 
of the Blechnoid type are present, 
though sparingly, on the young pinna. 
M atteuccia intermedia is thus seen 
to be a non-indusiate type, with di- 
morphic leaves and with sori protected 
by the reflexed leaf-margin, while the 
succession of the sporangia is basipetal. 
The sori form rows parallel to the 
midrib, and on either side of it, as in 
Blechnum > but they are not connected 
by commissures as is the rule in that 
genus. The axis of Matteuccia shows 
an open dictyostele, with a very bulky pith (Text-fig. 2). The leaf- 
trace originates as a pair of strands separate from the first, and remaining 
for some distance upwards without further subdivision. There is thus 
Text-fig. 2. Transverse section of the stock of Matteuccia intermedia , C. Chr. x 3. 
a basis, soral and anatomical, for comparison with the simpler types of the 
Blechnoid Ferns which goes considerably beyond the mere characters of 
external habit. The relations downwards are clearly with the Cyatheoid 
Ferns, and especially with the more primitive types, such as Alsophila and 
Text-fig. i. Sporangium of Matteuccia 
intermedia , C. Chr. x 125. 
