Bower. — Studies in the Phytogeny of the Filicales . 445 
frequently formed on each vein, they form an irregular line on each side of 
it. But, not uncommonly, two sori, or even more than two, may be borne 
on each vein, a feature which is specially noted by Presl as characteristic 
( 1 . c., p. 59). The sori project convexly from the lower surface of the leaf, 
and are slightly oval in outline, while numerous hairs project beyond the 
level of the densely grouped sporangia. A very good Habit-figure of the 
pinnae and sorus is given in Hooker’s c Genera Filicum ’, Tab. XLII, B. 
The leaf is, apart from the sorus, destitute of hairs when mature. But 
the rhizome is permanently covered by a dense felt of brownish colour. 
The individual hairs are unbranched, and bear no terminal gland. They 
resemble, in fact, the unbranched hairs in Lophosoria. There is, however, 
no representative of the larger branched hairs, each borne upon an emergence, 
which are so marked a feature in that Fern, and are believed to prefigure 
the scales which are so prevalent in the Cyatheaceae. These, as well as 
scales, seem to be wanting in Metayxa. 
It was chiefly the description of its anatomy, given by H. Karsten in 
his ‘ Vegetationsorgane der Palmen ’ (p. 125, and PI. IX, Figs. 1-4), which 
led me to examine Lophosoria qnadripinnata , (Gmel.). 1 In referring to this 
work, and to Mettenius’s memoir on Angiopteris , de Bary (‘ Comp. Anat./ 
Engl. Edn., p. 286) persistently placed Alsophila blechnoides (= Metaxya 
rostrata i Presl) in juxtaposition with Lophosoria. Naturally curiosity was 
awakened to see what the structure of Metaxya really is, and this led to an 
inquiry for supplies from Mr. Stockdale. 
Transverse sections of an internode of the rhizome show a complete 
solenostele, slightly oval in outline, as is the section itself. The structure is 
essentially the same as that of the horizontal runner of Lophosoria , except 
that the sclerenchymatous thickening of the walls of the ground tissue is in 
the old stock spread generally, instead of being restricted to definite bands, 
and that the solenostele, and especially the xylem of it, is rather thinner 
(Fig. 1). A section, transversely through the petiole, discloses an un- 
interrupted leaf-trace, with the meristele crinkled, and the margins turned 
sharply inwards (Fig. 2). In the mature petiole the ground tissue becomes 
very hard and sclerotic. The vascular supply of the pinna comes off from 
the elbow of the petiolar strand, just as in Lophosoria (see Part II of these 
Studies ; ‘Ann. of Bot., 5 vol. xxvi, 1912, PL XXXV, Fig. 14). But whereas 
in the large leaves of the latter Fern the petiolar meristele was apt to be 
divided into separate strands ( 1 . c., PI. XXXIV, Fig. 9), in Metaxya this has 
never been observed. 
1 I wish here to acknowledge the friendly protest of Dr. Carl Christensen against my use of the 
specific name Lophosoria pruinata , Presl. He writes in a letter to me thus : ‘ The species was 
described by Swartz as Polypodium glaucum. This name being invalidated by the earlier P. glaucum, 
Thbg., Gmelin renamed it P, quadripinnatum. Unaware of this new name Swartz himself renamed 
his species P. pruinatum. It seems to me that Gmelin’s name must stand.’ To this opinion I 
naturally assent. — F. O. 
