310 Shiv Ram Kashyap. 
two-celled at the base, arising out of the middle of the surface. 
Nor any trace of mucilage cells was ever found. The scales project 
from the margin only slightly and do not bend over the dorsal 
surface. Their cells do not contain chloroplasts. 
The plant is remarkable on account of the formation of tubers. 
At the end of the vegetative season the apex of the plant becomes 
gradually narrowed, the dorsal assimilating tissue also decreases 
gradually. Ultimately we have a short thick cylindrical structure 
which is directed downwards, and is more or less buried in the 
soil and protected by the scales. The growing point in this way 
survives and continues its growth next year. This is the reason 
why, in the vegetative season, all plants of the species which form 
more or less definite tubers by the thickening of the apex, and 
are marked by the letters B and C in the list given in the last paper, 1 
have a thick base. This is the case with the present species, 
Stephensoniella brevipedunculata, Athalamia pingnis, Gollaniella 
piisilla, Cyathodium tuberosum and Cryptomitrium hirnalayensis among 
others. More definite tubers are formed in this species by the 
modification of ventral shoots (Fig. 1, c ). Each tuber has a short 
cylindrical stalk and is a spherical body, about 0-5 mm. in diameter, 
covered with rhizoids. At one place on the tuber there is a small 
depression in which is situated the growing point which is covered 
with minute purple scales. The apical cell in the growing point cuts 
off segments very regularly on the sides. How many other cutting 
faces it has was not determined. The rest of the tuber is sur¬ 
rounded by a single layer of cells which have lost their contents, 
while the cells in the interior are full of starch. 
Exormotheca tuberifera is monoecious. The antheridia occur 
often in a depression in one group behind the female receptacle or 
along the midrib in the median groove. If fertilisation fails to 
occur in any of the archegonia of the female receptacle, which is 
situated in the angle between two shoots, the latter begin to form 
antheridia in the median groove. They are formed in two zigzag 
rows. When mature, each antheridium fills the cavity of the 
chamber in which it lies, leaving no space between its large hyaline 
wall-cells and the wall of the chamber. The chamber opens above 
by a papilla which has often a red colour. A young antheridium 
is shown in Fig 2, d, where the sequence of walls shows that the 
development is probably not different from that of the other 
Marchantiales. 
\ 1 New Phytologist, vol. 13, 1914, p. 208. 
