and on the Propagation of Fucacese. 263 



fication of the Floridece, can, as well as the seeds of the concepta- 

 cular fructification, reproduce an individual similar to the parent 

 plant. Such being the case, what difficulty can there be then in 

 regarding as representatives of one of these two modes of propa- 

 gation, the kind of gongylse filled with a granular matter which 

 terminate the branches of the jointed filaments which we meet 

 with in the conceptacles of all the Fucacece, and which M. de la 

 Pylaie has named microphytes, a name which I shall retain until 

 we have finally determined the kind of functions which they 

 fulfill ? 



I am well aware that no fact, no direct experiment can be pro- 

 duced in proof of this rather rash opinion, but which nevertheless 

 seems to me worthy of examination. Long previous to our having 

 recognised and verified their power of propagating the plant, we had 

 considered the anthosperms of Lamouroux as one of the means 

 of reproduction in the Floridece, — anthosperms, which, under 

 the name of sphserospores or tetraspores, are regarded at present 

 as the normal fructification, whilst the conceptacular has fallen 

 to the second rank, and is only considered by some phycologists 

 as an anormal and succedaneous mode of propagation. However 

 this may be, either I am much mistaken, or it appears to me that 

 we may recognise these two modes of reproduction in the Fucaceae, 

 first, in the true spores, either fixed to the base of the paraphyses 

 or to the wall of the conceptacle itself; second, in the microphytes 

 of M. de la Pylaie, figured by Lyngbye (Hydroph. Dan. t. 1. B. 

 figs. 3 and 4). These microphytes are most assuredly similar or 

 at least analogous to many of the conceptacular fructifications 

 which among the Floridece are produced in the terminal articu- 

 lation of a branched and jointed filament, which is usually, as in 

 this case, a continuation of those which constitute the frond. 

 Does not this resemblance between analogous organs in two 

 neighbouring and parallel series appear to add some weight to the 

 opinion held by M. Decaisne respecting the secondary importance 

 of the conceptacular fructification ? I confess that, previous to 

 having these new ideas respecting their nature, I took for young 

 spores the gongylse which the microphytes bear. The error was 

 so much more difficult to avoid, since many species appear desti- 

 tute of true spores. In his general remarks on the Fucaceae, M. 

 Meneghini (Alghe Ital. e Dalmat.) himself appears to have con- 

 sidered as normal spores the gemmae which are borne by the 

 branched filaments of the microphytes; in fact," he expresses 

 himself as follows : — " Essi asci sono ramosi-articulati, alcuni 

 sono fertili, portano cioe le spore, ciascuna delle quali e solitaria 

 in uno degli articoli terminali, gli altri," &c. 



We now proceed to the observations, which to a certain extent 

 support my ideas respecting the organs in question : 



