Mew and Lit tie Known West- Himalayan Liverworts. 7 
that they form a funnel; when the plant is mature and the wings 
are large they may hang down. In the young state the plant 
resembles the prothallus of Gymnogramme leptophylla very much. 
The prothallus is often found growing near the plant and it is 
impossible to distinguish the two in the young sterile state (cf. Fig. 
3, I—VIII, XV—XVI). The cells of the midrib are full of starch 
especially in the central portion. The cells near the ventral surface 
and to the sides contain some fungal hyphae. Near the end of the 
vegetative season the growing point ceases to form wings and only 
produces the cylindrical midrib. The apex then becomes thickened 
and forms a tuber which is covered with rhizoids and also some minute 
scales anteriorly, and it is buried in the soil. When the tuber 
grows next year the scales are carried to the ventral surface of the 
plant. Sometimes the wingless apex forks into two before forming 
a tuber and thus two tubers may be found in front of one plant. 
Rarely the forking may affect the wings as well. The plant shown 
in Fig. 3, VIII, looks as if there are two leaves on each side of the 
stem ; as a matter of fact the apex has forked rather early and each 
branch has formed a wing on its outer side, but the wing on the 
inner side is as yet not developed—a rudiment of one of these inner 
wings is seen at l. Sometimes when the plant has forked, a wing may 
be developed on the dorsal side anteriorly between the two tubers 
and this wing may be more or less fused with the lateral wings and the 
three form a cup-like structure. As the plant goes on growing for 
several years forming one or two tubers each year, one often sees 
the remains of several years’ tubers behind the current year’s 
growth. Fig. 3, VII, shows a plant five years old. The up and 
down curves indicating yearly growth and the swellings indicating 
the position of the successive tubers are quite distinct. 
The perianth arises in the form of several distinct bracts (Fig. 3, 
X), which, moreover, do not grow simultaneously. Each bract 
arises from a single cell as a small papilla which divides by trans¬ 
verse walls and forms a short filament. Then vertical walls are 
formed in the lower portion and as the bracts become broader the 
adjacent ones fuse and are then carried upwards by basal growth. 
Sometimes fusion can not take place at one or two places because 
the bracts are at a distance from each other, then the perianth in 
the ripe state shows some splits. As the bracts do not arise in a 
regular ring, but some towards the outside and others towards the 
centre nearer the archegonia, we find that in the ripe perianth the 
bracts may sometimes be fused to the inner and the outer surfaces. 
