284 NOTES ON SAECOMENIA JUNIATA AG. 



from which the pollinoids arose. The walls of this little hori- 

 zontally stretched cell were indistinct, but distinct strands of proto- 

 plasm were clinging to it. I could not see what became of them. 

 The contents of the upper big cell had entirely vanished, but on 

 each side articulated dichotomous filaments had developed. They 

 rose a little above the surface of the unchanged middle nerve of the 

 antheridium ; this facilitated of course the distribution of the 

 pollinoids, and strengthened my opinion as to the function of the 

 pedicel-cell. The apex of the articulated filaments was in some 

 cases very small, in others larger (from 2, 7 to 8, 1 /x, fig. 8). I saw 

 no pollinoids issuing from the top cells, and do not know whether 

 each is the mother-cell of a single pollinoid or whether they undergo 

 still further changes. The beautiful researches on antheridia by 

 the late lamented Mr. Buffham* show that this is not altogether 

 impossible. 



The cystocarps arise about the middle of the branch, generally 

 nearer to its base. I was not fortunate enough to find trichogynes, 

 nor could I distinguish the carpogonium. The youngest stages I 

 saw consisted of three big cells full of protoplasm lying in the centre 

 of the branch at the place of the central tube. These big cells were 

 already surrounded by a low elliptic wall, the future pericarp. 

 The pericentral tubes on one side of the branch had divided by 

 horizontal walls, and the cells resulting from this partition had 

 grown out at right angles on their former longitudinal axis. They 

 had yielded in the middle for the future ostiole, and each cell 

 surrounding this ostiole was an initial cell of the wall of the 

 pericarp. These initial cells were divided by horizontal walls, and 

 each segment was partitioned as in the case of the lateral tubes in 

 the stem by two oblique walls, cutting off two cortical cells. These 

 last ones remain short, but become very broad, and constitute the 

 beautiful symmetric outer wall of the pericarp. The tubes that 

 have given off the cortical cell layer stand apart from one another 

 at the inner side of the pericarp ; they remain thin, and each of 

 their cells is twice as long as a cortical cell. Very young pericarps 

 of Sarcomenia delesserioidcs have the same mode of growth, but sub- 

 sequent divisions make the pericarp of this plant more differentiated. 



By the subsequent growth of the procarp tufts of branching 

 filaments arise, the top cells of which produce each a pear-shaped 

 spore, set free by a slit in the membrane. Several spores were 

 lying in the ostiole of the pericarp. When the cystocarp is fully 

 developed it looks as if it were borne on a little stalk, and had been 

 developed at the top of a branch, for the upper part of the branch 

 bearing the cystocarp is pushed aside by the growth of the base of 

 the cystocarp, and looks as if it were an appendage of the cystocarp. 

 This is, however, not the case, all young cystocarps rising from the 

 middle and near the base of the fruit-bearing branch. 



Prof. Farlowf has described under the name of Tanioina Cleve- 



* Buff ham, T. H., "Notes' on some Floridece,'^ Journ. of the Quekett Mici: 

 Club, vol. ii. ser. 2, pp. 183-1'JO. ISOG. 



t Farlow, Proc. Amcr. Acad. Arts d: Sciences, vol. xii. p. 23(5. 



