182 THE B02''ANICAL MAGAZINE. [Voi. xxxrii.N.,. 393. 



present study, are not gametes ; Kuckuck^^ observed the 

 copulation of the swarraspores of Scytosiphon. 



Whatever may be the swarmspores from the sori of tlie 

 other genera of the Encoeliaceae, those I have observed on 

 Phyllitis did not copulate, rounded themselves to take their 

 rest, and germinated and developed into the gametophyte 

 stage. I do not in the least hesitate to regard the swarm- 

 spores as asexual. As a consequence, we may say that in the 

 life-histor\' of Phy]litis a gametophyte generation follows the 

 sporophj^te. 



It still remains a problem how the sporelirig germinated 

 from the oogonium will pass half a 3'ear until late autumn and 

 give rise to the well-known form of Phyllitis. There maj^ or 

 may not be another generation during the interval. 



As noted before, Reinke is the only one, so far as I 

 am aware, who has studied the germination of Phyllitis by 

 culturing its spores. There are several points to be doubted in 

 what he has observed or interpreted. 



Reinke gave details of the early stages of development of 

 the sporelings germinated from the zoospores as well as of the 

 stages in the fifth and sixth week. Of the intermediate stages 

 he said but little. 



The so-called " secondary spores " of Reinke, formed in the 

 filaments developed from the dispersed zoospores, appear to me 

 to answer the oospores described above. According to his 

 report, however, the content^ of the cells of a filament contract 

 into elliptical bodies coated with a new membrane and escape 

 from the mother-cells as the " secondary^ spores." The}- are, 

 therefore, generated by the endogenous cell-formation while the 

 oospores under the subject are by the exogenous. 



Reinke reports also, that the cell-aggregations I'csulted 

 from the union of two filaments become deeper coloured after 

 the sixth week ; and some of the cells develop to form the 

 sporelings of the Phyllitis fronds. To these facts Reinke 

 attributed the cfespitose habit of the plant. 



1) ]. c. 



