1903] Thaxter,— Notes on Monoblepharis 107 
guished from Cornu's species by its normally diclinous habit, hyaline 
spores, copious oogonia and especially by its peculiar antheridia and 
unique habit of discharging its oospores into the water, that I have 
not hesitated to separate it as a distinct species in the above synopsis. 
In addition to the forms above enumerated there appear to be at 
least two, if not more, additional species which occur in New Eng- 
land; but I prefer to withhold further notes concerning these, in the. 
hope of having an opportunity to examine them more thoroughly in 
the near future. 
In this connection I am tempted to express my dissent from the 
views of Lagerheim regarding the possible points of approach 
that may be indicated between these fungi and existing alga which, 
at the present time, might be assumed to represent their algal pro- 
genitors. In his opinion one should look to forms related to Oedo- 
gonium or Coleochaete, rather than to Vaucheria, in seeking such a 
point of departure; basing this opinion mainly on the fact that the 
oogonium in these genera is permanently uninucleate, while that of 
Vaucheria, before the exit of the supernumerary nuclei, is multi- 
nucleate. Apart from the,fact that we do not as yet know whether 
the uninucleate condition in Monoblepharis or the preliminary multi- 
nucleate condition in Vaucheria are constant phenomena in all the 
species, it does not appear to be by any means certain that such a 
difference, even were it constant, should be looked upon as phylogenet- 
ically important, in view of the cytological eccentricities presented by 
other coenocytic plants and so well illustrated in the genus Albugo. 
The fact that both Oedogonium and Coleochete possess a thallus 
of a totally different nature would in itself be a strong argument 
against such an origin. On the other hand one finds in Vaucheria 
not only a close resemblance in the Siphonaceous thallus, but so 
remarkable a correspondence in the phenomena of sexual reproduc- 
tion that it is merely necessary to select a species like Vaucheria 
intermedia, in which, through a similar sequence in formation, the 
antheridia appear as in Monoblepharis to be inserted on the oogonia, 
deprive its thallus of chlorophyl and its antherozoids of one cilium, 
and supply it with biciliate zoospores, to obtain a very presentable 
species of Monoblepharis. The transformation of the zoospores 
would perhaps be the most violent step in this process; yet even in 
the Phycomycetes themselves our ideas of what a zoospore should be 
in this group are rudely overturned by such a form as Myrioble- 
pharis. 
