168 
W. C. Worsdell 
In certain forms of Opkioglossum, e.g. 0. palinatum 1 , there are 
a number of sporangiophores which are borne, no longer in the 
medianly ventral position on the sporophyli, but either on its actual 
margins or on the surface, a short distance away from the margin ; 
this latter position is precisely equivalent to the position of the 
ovules on the carpels in the case of very many higher plants. The 
marginal position of the highly elaborate sporangiophores at once 
invites comparison with the pair of basal elaborately-subdivided 
fertile pinnae of the Schizaeaceous genus Aneimia. There is no 
doubt in my mind that these latter are structures homologous in 
every way with the “ fertile spikes ” of Opkioglossum palinatum and 
therefore with those of O. vulgalum : and, a necessary consequence 
also, with the sporangia of the Lycopods. All these structures 
represent morphologically a leaflet or segment, whether ventral or 
marginal in position, of the sporophyli. 
I am inclined to find the primitive type in the single undivided 
sporangium of the Lycopods, which, in the case of four genera, has 
persisted down to the present day ; this single sporangium by means 
of elaboration, gave rise to the type of our British Opkioglossum, 
Botryckium and Hehninthostackys. But the sporangium, as in 
Psilotum and Tmesipteris, became divided into two or more parts; - 
and, by means of elaboration of each of these, the type of O. palmatum 
and of Aneimia arose. The orientation of the fertile pinnae of this 
latter plant—connivent across the ventral face of the leaf—suggests 
their real origin. 
On these grounds I am inclined to assign an intimate relationship 
in origins to the Ophioglossaceae and Schizaeacete. The saprophytic 
habit of the former class, as is also the case in Psilotacete, has 
probably been a prime factor in causing them to retain several 
primitive characters, and this, to my mind, seems a very much more 
reasonable hypothesis than that which implies a reduction on that 
account. 
That the Ophioglossaceac exhibit certain Filicinean features in 
their organisation, while at the same time showing clear signs of an 
alliance with the Lycopods, must be ascribed to the fact that they stand 
much nearer the primary common point of departure of the Filicineae 
and Sphenophyllales than do any of the members belonging to the 
Lycopodiales. They are, in other words, a much more generalised 
1 Here also we see dichotomy of the sporophyli, as in that of 
Psilotaceae, Cheirostrobus and the vegetative leaves of some 
species of Sphcnophylliun. 
