236 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [march 



early stages of hairpits. In either case, one or more peripheral 

 cells at some point on the inner surface of the groove lose their 

 power to increase in size and are left in a small cavity by active 

 growth of surrounding cells. The initial (or initials) do not dis- 

 integrate, but by transverse divisions grow into hairs which project 

 beyond the mouth of the conceptacle. He says he can find no 

 traces, in his material, of decay of elements preceding formation 

 of a cavity, as described by Bower for Fucits. He finds hairpits 

 developed among the conceptacles at apices of fruiting branches, 

 but that in such cases the cavity is less pronounced than usual. 

 He considers these a convincing proof of the close relationship 

 between hairpits and conceptacles. 



Oltmanns (19, 20) considers that the method as described by 

 Bower is essentially constant for all the Fucaceae, with very 

 unimportant exceptions, namely, that the cells abutting on the 

 '"initial" have the chief work in organizing a conceptacle, sharing 

 this with the "basal" cell, whereas the "initial" seldom remains 

 intact, but either disintegrates or else grows into a hair ("iiberall 

 kommt ihr zweifellos irgend eine nennenswerthe Funktion nicht 

 zu"; 20, p. 516). Oltmanns regards the conceptacles and hair- 

 pits as homologous structures, but takes exception to Bower's 

 conclusion that hairpits are "neutral (sterile) conceptacles," for 

 he believes that the hairpits have become sexual (19, p. 82). 



Barton in 1891 (3) made the next contribution, in her study of 

 Turbinaria. She found the conceptacles and hairpits developed 

 in essentially the same way as described by Bower, Valiante, and 

 Oltmanns, the "initial" cell being persistent. "The initial cell 

 divides longitudinally, and both cells, after again dividing trans- 

 versely near the top, grow into hairs, the upper division of the 

 initial forming the swollen base of the mature filament. These 

 filaments fill the fully grown conceptacle" (p. 224). 



She objects decidedly to Bower's terms "neutral" and "sterile 

 conceptacle" as "conveying an idea of abortive growth" (p. 223). 

 Her view is that the two bodies are of "equal antiquity" and "a 

 later development in the ancestors of the Fucaceae than the 

 reproductive organs." "I consider neither form a development of 

 the other, and the fact that one conceptacle contains reproductive 



