678 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



sion ; but at first the long shoots lie considerably behind the short 

 ones in growth. The long shoots stand on the middle line of the two 

 flanks in regular alternation right and left. The short shoots stand on 

 the concave side in two planes also in regular alternation right and left. 

 Their growth closes either with an abortive apical cell or with the 

 formation of leaves. The leaves arise from the youngest segments, 

 and even from the apical cell itself ; they usually consist of rows of cells 

 branching in a pseudo-dichotomous manner. The leaves which are not 

 developed from the apical cell stand on the convex side of the short 

 shoots. There is no formation of cortex in either species. 



Fructification of Chsetopteris plumosa.* — Although the peculiar 

 fructification of the Sphacelariaceae has been described in several 

 recent treatises, the favourable illustration furnished by Chcetopteris 

 j)lumosa appears hitherto to have been neglected. This deficiency is 

 now supplied by E. WoUny, who obtained his specimens from Spitz- 

 bergen and Heligoland. 



This Alga usually grows on rocks and stones at a depth of from 

 10 to 20 metres below the surface, and is therefore very difficult to 

 obtain in the autumn and winter months, when the formation of the 

 reproductive organs is proceeding. The plant is also subject, in its 

 native habitat, to a pressure of water of from one to two atmospheres ; 

 and it is questionable whether the processes that take place under the 

 abnormal conditions of light and pressure occurring on the micro- 

 scopic slide would be the natui'al ones. These processes appear to 

 be completed about the end of December; there being two distinct 

 periods at which fructification is produced, in autumn and in winter. 

 That formed in the autumn is very scarce, and the exact function of 

 the reproductive bodies the author was unable to determine. 



In winter are j)roduced the two kinds of sporangia characteristic of 

 the Sphacelariaceae, the unilocular and the multilocular. 



The unilocular sporangia are produced in various positions on the 

 fertile leaves, but are always formed out of terminal cells. They are 

 usually spherical and of a dark brown colour, with granular contents, 

 which in all probability escape in the form of numerous zoospores, as 

 in Cladosteplms. 



The multilocular sporangia are formed on special fertile leaves, 

 and are quite similar in external form to those of Cladostephus, as 

 described by Pringsheim ; they are of a greenish-yellow colour, and 

 are divided into a great number of compartments. 



The author suggests that the structures described by him as the 

 autumn fructification and the unilocular sporangia are possibly due to 

 the attacks of parasitic Chytridia, a phenomenon so well known in the 

 Si)hacelariacefe. 



Fructification of Squamarieae.t — Professor Schmitz has made this 

 a special subject of study, in the case of Cruoriopsis cruciata, a small 

 Mediterranean seaweed, which forms small blood-red or black-red 



* ' Hedwigia,' xix. (1880) p. 65. 



t ' SB. Niederrliein. Gcs. Natur- ii. Heilkuude ' (Bouu), Aug. 4, 1879. 



