2 2 HUMPHREY 



gonium are observed about the middle of July. Owing to the 

 very slow development of the sporogonium the spores are not 

 discharged until the following spring. Here in California our 

 plants behave differently. After fertilization the female recep- 

 tacles grow to about two to two and one half millimeters in diam- 

 eter. Though the plants may be amply supplied with moisture 

 from below throughout the summer, proper humidity and tem- 

 perature conditions do not prevail until the beginning of the 

 winter or rainy season. Throughout the summer the growth of 

 the receptacle is so slight as to be almost imperceptible. San 

 Jose Creek empties into Carmel Bay and in late summer and 

 autumn, the canon, being near the sea, is quite commonly filled 

 with heavy fogs for a part of the day, leaving all vegetation 

 dripping wet. While these fogs are not equivalent to the 

 drenching rains of winter, they do play a great role in the revi- 

 val of certain mosses, liverworts and lichens and doubtless stimu- 

 late their growth to a certain extent. At any rate, up to the 

 latter part of August the archegonial receptacle of FegateJla 

 increases but slightly in size, though the increase is sufficient to 

 enable one to distinguish fertilized from unfertilized receptacles. 

 By the first of October (before any rain had fallen) the sporo- 

 gonium had advanced to the spore tetrad stage and remained in 

 about this condition until the opening of the rainy season. Fol- 

 lowing this, rapid development ensues and the spores are dis- 

 charged in January. 



This liverwort might be considered as viviparous, since the 

 spores germinate within the capsule. Cavers states that ger- 

 mination occurs within the capsule before the spores are dis- 

 charged, but does not say how long a time elapses between 

 the first evidences of germination, and the ultimate elongation 

 of the peduncle and dehiscence of the capsule. With our 

 plants germination-stages were found at least a month preced- 

 ing the liberation of the spores. How much earlier than this 

 germination actually begins cannot be said, as material for 

 examination was not available at that time. Germination does 

 not take place simultaneously in all the spores of a single cap- 

 sule. One may find within a capsule every stage from 

 the ungerminated spore to the six-cell stage, and it is to be 



