116 Piiget Sound Marine Sto. Pub. Vol. 1, No. 12 



plant or on plants growing in poorly lighted places, the hairs were rudi- 

 mentary or lacking, while on exposed parts, specially in spring and sum- 

 mer, they were enormously developed. Kiister (11), however, does not 

 agree with Berthold on this point. The writer did not find during this 

 investigation that Codium mucronatum grew any more commonly or any 

 differently in shaded places than in well lighted ones. 



The numerous hairs found in C. tomentosum may be simply a pro- 

 tection against unfavorable conditions. Those in C. mucronahim would 

 then be degenerate protective organs, for they are too few in number to be 

 of any use in this capacity. A comparison of the development of utricle 

 hairs of plants in protected habitats with those exposed to violent beating 

 by waves might throw some light upon their cause or utility. Kiister (11) 

 reports that near Rovigno, where he made his observations, those species 

 of Codium provided with utricle hairs were free from epiphytes, both 

 plant and animal; while C. bursa was so overgrown with Ectocarpus, 

 Sphacelaria and sponges that in many cases the surface of the plant was 

 completely hidden. 



Kiister (11) reports hairs 1 cm. long in C. tomentosum. He says 

 that they are not functionless but are storehouses for photosynthetic prod- 

 ucts ; that since the hair remains in communication with the utricle this 

 food is available during the winter and is valuable when the plant is re- 

 producing. This could hardly be the case when the plug in the base of 

 the hair is solid, as is often found to be true in C. mucronatum. Ernst 

 (7) has the same idea as to the function of the hairs — "Ein Teil der 

 Assimilationsstarke wird aus den griinen Faden durch die Protoplasma- 

 stromung in die rhizoidenartigen, zum Teil als Reservestoffbehalter funk- 

 tionierenden chlorophyllosen Faden gefiihrt, in welchen in Leukoplasten 

 die Neubildung von Reservestarke aus gelosten Kohlenhydraten erfolgen 

 kann." 



The majority of writers on Codium describe sexual reproduction by 

 means of large green female gametes and small yellow male gametes, 

 both biciliate. During the present investigation in which many different 

 plants all reproducing abundantly were carefully examined, only one 

 kind of gametangium was found. This on account of its large size and 

 dark green gametes was the female gametangium if this species is hetero- 

 gamous. These gametangia are ovate lateral branches which originate 

 just above the middle point of the utricle (Fig. 11). They are 250-150 /x 

 long and 75-150 /x in diameter. Saunders (15) says that the gametangia 

 of this species "arise from near the base of the peripheral filaments." 

 Svedelius (18) indicates the same location in a figure. In no case did 

 the writer find gametangia near the base of the utricles. 



The beginning of a gametangium is a protrusion of the wall of the 



