Tg 
a TR ge 
AND COILODESME CALIFORNICA. 678 
shizolds stain so me he weoly than the host-cells that their 
have lain for some time in vlyee ; aie we tears 
rs glycerine. When these rhizoids are 
once recognized, it is astonishing to find how numerous they are, 
and how little they seem to affect the host-cells among which 
they creep; and this seems to point to the conclusion that 
M. Areschougii is an endophyte rather than a true parasite, 
though it may possibly obtain some nutriment from the water 
and mucilage which fill up the spaces in the central tissue of its 
host. In consequence of the devious course of the rhizoids and 
the distance between the plants of If. Areschougii, it is almost 
impossible tu trace any one individual rhizoid trom one tuft to 
another; but along the whole distance between the tufts so 
many filaments are to be found passing through the host-tissue, 
that there seems little doubt that these rhizoids do act as stolons 
for propagating the plant. This supposition is also supported 
by the fact that in JL. stellulata, where the tufts are closer 
together, the connecting filaments can be easily traced. 
In the material from Scotland and Port Erin active cell- 
division was not unfrequently to be found going on in the host- 
cells at the base and sides of the Myriactis-plant, and in sections 
stained with Hoffmann’s or aniline-blue the host-cells below the 
parasite often stain rather differently from the adjoining cells. 
This seems to indicate some alteration in the cell-contents. 
AM. Areschougii secretes a large quantity of mucilage, which is 
found chiefly at the base of the hairs and round the assimilating 
filaments, though in some cases it penetrates far down into the 
cushion. This secretion stains pink with Hoffmanu’s blue, dull 
purple with both aniline and methylene-blue, and a pale brownish 
colour with picro-carmine. The mucilage found among the 
filaments of the central tissue in Himanthalia stains a bright 
pink with this last reagent, which points to a difference in the 
composition of the two substances. 
Mucilage is also present, but less abundantly, in Af. stellulata, 
where it sometimes takes the form of threads, which may be 
seen running like a cobweb from one filament to another. This 
appearance may, however, be caused by the reagents used. 
As yet only unilocular sporangia have been found in lV. Are- 
schougii ; but as plurilocular sporangia exist in both the closely- 
allied species M. pulvinata and M. stellulata, it seems likely that 
The plurilocular sporangia of 
they occur in this species also. 
spr 
