THE ARCHEGONIUM OF MNIUM CUSPIDATUM. 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY. 
G.M. Ho_Ferry. 
(WITH PLATES V AND VI) 
ALTHOUGH the archegonium of mosses has been much studied, 
the origin of the axial row and the relationships of the various 
members comprising it have been left in uncertainty. These 
points can be established best by mitotic figures, but mitosis in 
mosses must go On very rapidly, for figures are rare; and it is no 
doubt due to the infrequent observation of mitotic figures that 
these questions have been left so long in uncertainty and that 
observers have been led to different views. 
For the present work material was collected at the Dalles 
of the Wisconsin River in Wisconsin, along the Missisisippi 
River in upper lowa, near Oberlin in @hio, at Starved Rock 
and in the vicinity of Chicago in Illinois. The methods used 
were those that have been generally approved. Since the ter- 
- minology used in the various papers dealing with this subject is 
confusing, it may be stated that that used in this paper is largely 
that of Janczewski (9). 
I am under obligation to Professor John M. Coulter, Professor 
Charles R. Barnes, and Dr. Charles J. Chamberlain for valuable 
suggestions during the progress of the work; and also to other 
members of the Department of Botany who have kindly contrib- 
uted valuable material. 
HISTORICAL. : 
In 1851 Hofmeister (1) outlined the development of archego- 
nia and antheridia in bryophytes, showing that the earliest stages 
of both are identical, a fact fully confirmed in, the present paper; 
but his view as to the origin of the axial row in the archegonium 
and of a similar row in the antheridium receives no confirmation. 
Schimper (2), in studying Sphagnum, confirmed Hofmeister’s 
106 [FEBRUARY 
