14 University of California Puhlications in Botany [Vol. 10 



of the front metamorphose. The phylogeny, functions, and develop- 

 ment of the cryptostomata have been the subjects of considerable dis- 

 cussion and investigation among algologists. It is not my purpose 

 here to go into an extensive discussion of the literature on these 

 subjects. A few statements, however, may be of service in this con- 

 nection. 



Bower (1880, p. 36) briefly reviewed the literature that had been 

 published on the investigations of the subject of the cryptostomata 

 up to that date, bearing particularly upon their origin. Oltmanns 

 (1904, 1905) has given a much more exhaustive account of opinions 

 and investigations, including his own, on all phases of the subject. 

 Regarding the phylogeny and functions of these organs, the investi- 

 gations up to the present time seem to have been too meager to warrant 

 any satisfactory general conclusions. That which seems to me to be 

 the most satisfactorily assignable function of the paraphyses is one 

 suggested to me by Dr. Setchell, first mentioned by Reinke (1875, 

 p. 2.30), viz., their connection with nutrition. Reinke compares them 

 to root hairs of the higher plants, serving to increase the absorbing 

 surface. In whatever species they occur, they originate and are most 

 vigorous in meristematic tissue, either in ephemeral or in perennial 

 species. They would thus seem to be homologous to root hairs in the 

 higher plants, exposing a greater absorbing surface at the time and 

 in the place of greatest need for food, soon disappearing after having 

 served their purpose. 



So far as the genus Fucns is concerned, the investigations of 

 Bower {loc. cit.) seem definitely to have settled the question of the 

 origin and development of the conceptaclcs as well as the crypto- 

 stomata. He shows that they originate just back of the growing point, 

 in the depressions at the apices of the fronds, by the failure of a single 

 surface cell to divide horizontally, and its subsequent disintegration. 

 From this beginning he carefully traces and figures the enlarging 

 cavity resulting, and the differentiation of the reproductive organs 

 and sterile hairs. I have verified the results of Bower's investigation 

 so far as the initial step in the formation of these organs is concerned. 



Having frequently noticed forms of Fucus, particularly from the 

 region of Puget Sound southward to the southern limits of its dis- 

 tribution, in which tlie cryptostomata were deep-seated, completely 

 closed, and destitute of paraphyses, I was prompted to investigate their 

 origin with a view to determining the use to which this character 

 might be put in placing the species. Several genera of the Fucaceae 



