3 14 Shiv Ram Kasliyap . 
The plants are dioecious. The male plants are found in very 
small numbers, consequently very few female plants produce ripe 
sporogonia. The antheridia are formed in a broad median dorsal 
groove in large numbers. They arise close to each other in two or 
four zigzag rows and form a definite receptacle. In the mature 
state the red papillae of the chambers in which they are formed are 
very conspicuous. The antheridial receptacle does not, however, 
stop the growth of the plant, which continues to form vegetative 
tissue after the formation of antheridia has ceased. The receptacle 
may fork as the thallus forks (Fig. 3, a, b). No paraphyses are 
met with among the papillae, and usually no vegetative tissue is 
formed between them excepting the separating septa. Occasionally, 
however, the male receptacle forks, even though the thallus does 
not show any signs of forking, and the two branches of the receptacle, 
after growing for some time independently, again come close to 
each other and meet, leaving a small island of assimilating tissue. 
The structure of the mature antheridium is like that of Exormotheca 
tuberifera, though very few plants were collected in which the 
antheridia had not discharged their contents. The apex of the 
male plants ultimately forms a tuber. 
The female plants were found in large numbers, but mostly 
unfertilised. The female receptacle is always terminal. It arises 
as a small hemispherical cushion in a deep pit whose anterior wall 
is wanting. Laterally and posteriorly the pit is overhung by the 
vegetative tissue which bends inwards and protects the young 
receptacle. The receptacle in this respect resembles that of 
Exormotheca. It is also protected in the young state by the scales 
whose filamentous appendages bend over the anterior depression 
and are in intimate contact with the receptacles. The receptacle 
has two lateral groups of archegonia in two grooves as is the case 
in Exormotheca. The archegonia are one to six in each group. 
Posteriorly, the receptacle has a large number of paraphyses which 
are simple filaments of four or five cells each. Laterally also the 
archegonia have a few similar paraphyses near them. Thus the 
young receptacle, in addition to being protected by the cup-like 
depression, is also protected by the filaments on all sides. Soon, 
however, while the receptacle is still quite young, the growth of the 
thallus is continued forwards. This is invariably the case with all 
female plants, and the receptacle thus soon becomes dorsal instead 
of being terminal. As the apex grows after the formation of the 
female receptacle it may form a tuber at once and so form only a 
