Neither male nor female has wings; the rostrum is replaced by a functionless tubercle; and there is no alimentary canal.
They hay e large heads, projecting incisors, no ears, almost functionless eyes and moderately long tails; the skin, with the exception of a few hairs on the body and frinr-es on the feet, being naked.
The resemblance of the spermatia and spermogonia to those of Uredineae should be pointed out, where also there is considerable evidence for their original sexual nature, though they appear in that group to be functionless in all cases.
The singular fact requires to be noticed that in both these species the hind toe is generally deficient, but that examples of each are occasionally found in which this functionless member has not wholly disappeared.
It remains to be seen if the ovuliferous cone in the centre of the flower represents simply a functionless gynoecium, as in Welwitschia and abnormal cones of certain Coniferae, or if the flowers were hermaphrodite, with both male and female organs fully developed.