324 
THE FLORIST. 
one of the Ophioglossaceae ; whilst the production of ringless spore-cases 
scattered over the back of the frond (itself in the usually leafy condition) 
would as certainly point to the Marattiaceae. These distinctions may be 
contrasted thus:— 
Spore-cases ringless—• 
Fructifications dorsal on flat leafy fronds . Marattiace.®. 
Fructifications marginal on rachiform fronds Ophioglossace.®. 
The three groups thus brought out may each be regarded as a 
distinct order of plants, forming together the group of Filices, and 
having of course other points of difference besides the mere technical 
distinctions here selected for the purpose of classification. 
The Ophioglossaceae are so few in number, and present so little 
difference of structure, that it 
has not been found necessary to 
range them in groups of genera 
(called tribes), but they are at 
once separated into the genera or 
families which receive the species. 
The Marattiaceae form three 
distinct tribes or groups of genera, 
^ i -\tc c. Ophioglossaceje:— v, Ophioglossum vulgatum . 
Separated by differences ol struc- Botrychium Lunaria. Dan^einejs:— t, Danaea’ 
ture of some importance. One nodosa. 
of these is the Marattineae, consisting of Ferns in which the sori are 
distinct, of an oblong outline, ranged in two lines, facing each other, as if 
an oblong body had been nearly equally bisected longitudinally. These 
are again subdivided into two sections, the Marattieae, in which the 
spore-cases are concrete in two lines, forming one mass, the openings of 
the cases forming little cavities at intervals ; and the Angiopterideae, in 
which, while the arrangement is the same, the spore-cases, though closely 
placed side by side, are distinct from each other. Another of the tribes is 
the Kaulfussineae ; it has distinct circular sori, the spore-cases here 
being concrete into a single annular series, and opening towards the 
centre. In the third tribe, Danaeineae, the sori are connate over the 
whole under surface of the fertile fronds, which shows long parallel 
lines of small round cavities. The Marattiaceae are consequently thus 
grouped:— 
Marattiace.®— 
Sori distinct, longitudinally bisected . 
Spore-cases concrete in two opposite linear series 
Spore-cases free, crowded in two opposite linear 1 
series . / 
Sori circular, distinct; spore-cases annularly con- 1 
crete in a single series . . . . . / 
Sori connate throughout under surface of fertile \ 
fronds . . ..J 
Marattineas. 
Marattiece. 
Angiopteridece. 
K.AULFUS8INE.E. 
DaNuEINEjE. 
The Polypodiaceae offer much greater variety of structure in their 
spore-cases, than the foregoing. Of the eight tribes or divisions into 
which this order is separated, one is distinguished from the rest by 
having its spore-cases two-valved, bursting vertically at the apex. 
This peculiarity marks the Osmundinese, in which, moreover, the ring 
is very rudimentary indeed, being reduced to a few parallel vertical 
striae (parallel elongated cells of the tissue) on one side near the apex. 
