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attached to the stem of a species of Phoenix. There was no 

 time for making an examination, but from his later studies 

 in Java the writer is inclined to think that prothallia were 

 IDrobably present. 



In the forest at Tjibodas, however, after considerable search, 

 the prothallia were finally discovered in several places, and a 

 large number of specimens was procured, so that a thorough 

 study was possible. The result of this study is a confirmation 

 of Lang's investigations, but it was possible to extend these 

 observations in several respects, — notably, the spermatogenesis 

 and the development of the embryo, the latter being a point 

 which especially needed investigation. In all cases the prothallia 

 discovered were found in the humus packed between the old 

 leaf bases of Aspleniinn Nidus. Lang collected his material in 

 the humus about Polj/ podium quercifolimn. It is very evident 

 that the prothallia are very long lived, as they were found 

 deeply buried in the humus lietween the old leaf bases some 

 thirty or forty centimeters below the living crown of leaves, 

 and these old leaves must have been dead many years. Pre- 

 sumably the spores fall between the upper leaves of the 

 Asplenium and sift down between them into the humus at 

 their bases where the spores germinate. They are gradually 

 buried deeper and deeper with the accumulating humus as the 

 leaf bases are pushed farther and further down by the develop- 

 ment of the new leaves at the crown of the plant. The mass 

 of humus in a large plant of A. Nidus must weigh at least 

 25 kilogrammes, and it was between the older leaf bases that 

 most of the specimens were collected. The branches of the 

 prothallia w^ere often much flattened by the pressure of the 

 leaf bases between which they were lying, but except for this, 

 growth takes place in all directions. Bruchmann states that in 

 0. tmlgatum the prothallia are also very long lived, probably 

 often living for ten years or more, and this is also the case 

 in Botrt/chium virginianum. Helminthostachys on the other hand, 

 as already stated, is probably annual like 0. mohccanum. 

 In searching for the prothallia of O.penduluin one naturally 



