59^ 
Browne.—Anomalous Traces in the 
The following table gives the particulars as to the number of vascular 
strands, normal and anomalous, entering the axis from the sporangiophores 
in the lowest whorls of the four cones studied. 
Loivest whorl 
Strands showing 
Strands showing 
Strands shozving 
Normal 
of cone. 
the A anomaly. 
the B anomaly. 
the C anomaly. 
strands. 
A 
2 
0 
4 
18 
B 
1 
0 
0 
41 
F 
7 
4 
14 
5 
G 
6 
1 
0 
20 
As already pointed out these anomalous traces also occur, though more 
rarely, in other positions and in the cones of other species. For instance, in 
the upper part of Cone A of E. maximum one of the strands belonging to 
a sporangiophore of the twelfth whorl died out in the cortex. So did one 
of the strands entering the cortex from a bifascicular sporangiophore of 
the second whorl of a cone of E. sylvaticum (Browne, 1921, p. 43 ^)* The 
B anomaly seems to be rather rare. Besides the cases recorded in the 
» 
above table I have observed a case in which a vascular strand entering the 
cortex from a bifascicular sporangiophore of the sixth whorl of Cone F of 
E. maximum showed this peculiarity. The sporangiophore was, to judge 
from its size and form, single in nature, but peculiar in that its two vascular 
strands were vertically superposed, the upper one showing the B anomaly 
and the other, which originated about 200 y lower down, the C anomaly. 
The B anomaly has also been observed in a cone of E. limosum (Browne, 
1915, p. 248), and once in a cone of E. sylvaticum (Browne, 1921, p. 438). 
It might be supposed that the A anomaly would be commoner than the 
B and C anomalies, since it shows a less great departure from the normal 
than these. I have, however, only observed it in E. maximum. In the 
case of Cone F there were, besides the seven cases in the lowest whorl in¬ 
cluded in the above table, seven other examples of the A anomaly. All 
were situated in the lower half of the cone, since they did not occur above 
the level of the seventh whorl, at which level there were three of them. In 
the five lowest whorls of Cone G—the portion of this cone studied for the 
present purpose—there were six strands of this type belongingto sporangio¬ 
phores of the lowest whorl and one to a sporangiophore of the fourth whorl. 
It should be borne in mind that the A anomaly is much less obvious than 
either of the other two anomalies and requires careful and prolonged exami¬ 
nation to distinguish it from the normal type. Discontinuity between the 
axial protoxylem and that entering the stele from a sporangiophore can only 
be established when the series of sections is complete and the preservation of 
the tissues good. In the case of the A anomalies described in this paper 
I was, however, able to satisfy myself of the real discontinuity between the 
axial protoxylem and that entering the stele from the sporangiophores. In 
view of the difficulties and lengthiness of the process of distinguishingthose 
traces showing the A anomaly from normal traces, and in view also of the 
