XII. On the Development and Morphology oj Phylloglossum Drummondii. 
By Professor F. O. Bower. 
Communicated by W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.P.S. 
Received and Read June 18, 1885. 
[Plates 71-73.] 
Part I. —The Vegetative Organs. 
Within the last twelve months the interest of Botanists has been centred afresh in 
the investigation of the Lycopodince. It is sufficient to refer to the recent writings of 
Bruchmann," Treub,! and Solms-Laubach,]; to indicate how actively the investi¬ 
gation of these plants is being pursued. It had long been the wish of the author of 
this paper to obtain material for the careful investigation of the less known members 
of the Lycopodince , and especially of Phylloglossum; the authorities of the Boyal 
Gardens at Kew’ made this known to Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, and from 
him there were received during the latter half of 1884 two consignments of living 
tubers of Phylloglossum Drummondii, as well as a supply of mature plants preserved 
in alcohol. The tubers germinated successfully, in the propagating pits at Kew, and 
the material was thus at hand for the investigation of the development and histology 
of this little known plant. As circumstances will for the present prevent the author 
from continuing his work, and as the Lycopodince are now one of the focal points of 
botanical interest, it appears desirable that the chief facts thus far acquired should at 
once be published, while a discussion of these results, and their bearing upon recent 
observations of other forms, may for the present be postponed. The structure and 
development of the sporophore generation only will be described at present. Many 
of the plants now growing at Kew already bear immature sporangia, but the 
description of their development will be deferred till the sporangia have arrived at 
maturity, and until attempts have been made to germinate the spores : the general 
treatment of the subject will be better in place when it is seen what results, if any, 
are acquired from those cultures of the spores. For similar reasons it would be both 
inconvenient and inopportune now to review the writings already published by various 
* ‘ Botanisches Centralblatt.’ 
t “ Etudes sur les Lycopodiacees.” ‘Ann. du jardin botanique de Buitenzorg,’ vol. iv., p. 107. 
+ “ Der Aufbau des Stockes von Psilotum Triquetrum.” ‘Ann. du jard. Buitenzorg,’ vol. iv., p. 130. 
