232 



BOTAXICAL GAZETTE [march 



Previous work 



The first attempt at detailed, histological description of the 

 origin of the conceptacle was that of Kutzixg in 1843 (*$)■ He 

 speaks there (p. 92) of the appearance on the surface of the thallus of 

 small circular depressions, " Fasergriibchen" (cryptostomata) , which 

 have a raised border and contain finely septate (" gegliederte " | 

 hairs. He says that in their structure they resemble conceptacles 

 ("Hullenfriichte") and seem to have a certain relation to them, 

 although present in certain forms which do not possess concep- 

 tacles. Moreover, they appear on sterile as well as on fertile 

 plants. He reports them sometimes lacking on Fucks vesicidosus, 

 although usually present. He offers an ingenious explanation of 

 the use of hairpits to the plant, describing a fusion of hairs develop- 

 ing a new plantlet as an adventitious shoot upon the parent. 



He calls the conceptacle a closed-over sorus ( '" eingestulpter 

 Sorus") and says (p. 98) that the layer forming the inner wall of 

 the cavity is nothing other than a slight modification of the super- 

 ficial layer of the cortex which becomes covered over and bears 

 antheridia and paraphyses ("Samen und Nebenfaden tragt"). 

 This cover conforms in structure to that of the superficial layer 

 (" Rindenschicht ") of the thallus. 



Agardh in 1848 (2) describes in the Fucoideae (p. 2) super- 

 ficial cells prolonged into hairs, which project freely beyond the 

 surface of the frond, either scattered or massed in a small bundle; 

 this bundle is bounded by an elevated margin of adjacent cells. 

 Such a body he calls a "cryptostomatum." The conceptacles 

 (" scaphidia ") he describes as suspended in the anastomosing 

 filaments in the interior of the thallus, and hollowed out beneath 

 the surface (p. 181 ). In the same place he mentions the occurrence 

 of hairpits ("cryptae minutae") on sterile portions of the frond 

 which are analagous to conceptacles on fertile parts ("scaphidiis 

 in parte fertili analogae " ) , but that such "crypts" are often lacking. 

 He describes a thin membrane in the early stage covering the 

 mouth of the cavity which is a portion of the superficial layer 

 ("quae tantum pars strati superficialis est"), but that the mouth 

 of the cavity is later always open ("sed demum eadum semper 

 evadunt ostiolo hiantia"). 



