STUDIES AMONG OUR COMMON HEPATIC^. 137 



surface view as dark irregular projections into the cell-cavities. The 

 cells of the innermost layer are somewhat smaller than the others 

 and tend to be elongated in the long direction of the valves, although 

 this tendency is not everywhere apparent. Their thickenings are 

 more conspicuous and affect the walls which line the interior of the 

 capsule rather than the partition-walls. The thickenings are in the 

 form of narrow, brownish bands which extend the whole or a part of 

 the distance from side to side and often give the cells a ladder-like ap- 

 pearance. 



The contents of the capsule which are discharged when it splits 

 open, are made up of the asexual reproductive bodies or "spores," 

 and peculiar sterile cells, known as " elaters." The spores are small, 

 spherical structures, somewhat variable in size and light-brown in 

 color. Each spore consists of a single cell bounded by a distinct wall, 

 which is covered on the outside with very minute and inconspicuous 

 tubercles. The elaters are long, transparent, thin-walled cells, which 

 taper toward each end, without being sharply pointed ; lining the wall 

 on the inside are two brown spiral bands of thickening, which, by 

 their elasticity, aid in scattering the spores. The elaters are dead 

 cells and, as they dry up, the thin wall between the turns of the 

 spirals shrivels away and often becomes quite indistinguishable. It is 

 to be noted that the spores and elaters fill the entire space enclosed by 

 the capsule-wall. 



The above description of the capsule and its contents applies, in 

 its essentials, to most of the leafy hepaticae. Certain slight deviations 

 will be pointed out as we meet with them in our studies, 



Yale University. 



In the vicinity of Lake Flirt, in southern Florida, I recently ob- 

 served a, to me, curious phenomenon regarding the little Gray Poly- 

 pody {Poly podium incamim ov polypodioides), which at this place, as in 

 other parts of Florida, covers the large, spreading branches of the 

 Live Oaks. At the time of my visit ( March ) there had been a long con- 

 tinued drought which had dried and shriveled the fronds until they 

 were as brown and dead looking as possible. One day there was a 

 brief shower, hardly lasting ten minutes, and another one during the 

 night. The next morning the fronds of the Polypody had revived and 

 spread out as bright, and green, and fresh as ever. This power of 

 rejuvenation has earned for the plant the local name of Resurrection 

 plant. — Robert Ridgivay, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 



