86 Howe : Phycological studies 



in the calcification of the outer surfaces of the corticating facets, 

 and in the disthictly obovoid spores. From N. van Bosseae, it 

 differs also in its usually smaller size, in the shorter and stouter 

 primary branches (275-400 /i vs. 570-1000 /i; 4-7 times vs. 15-30 

 times as long as their median diameter), which commonly cohere 

 in a peculiar fashion in the earlier stages of the plant's ontogeny, 

 in the not unusual reversions to the branches of the primary form, 

 in strong calcification of the outer surfaces of the corticating facets, 

 in the more obovoid spores, etc. 



The earlier stages in the development of Neomeris 77mcosa ar-e 

 quite different from those of ^V. ammlata and AL stipitata, in which 

 species alone the earlier stages have previously been described and 

 figured. Church * has distinguished five stages in the develop- 

 ment of the Singapore plant, which we have In the present paper 

 named N. stipitata. In N. mucosa we have noted but two or, at 

 most, three, recognizable stages. While the plant is bearing its 

 first 10 or I 2 whorls the primary branches are cylindrical and each 

 bears, a? a rule, three assimilatory filaments (Figures i and 2). 

 This possibly might be called stage I, but it is poorly defined and 

 passes very gradually into a condition that is continued for many 

 successive whorls — one in which the primary branches become 

 stouter, often at length somewhat elongate barrel-shaped, each 

 bearing two deciduous assimilatory filaments (Figures 3-5). The 

 transition from this condition to the corticated sporangium-bearing 

 state is abrupt. It is possible that corticating branches of the 

 second order sometimes spring from sterile primary branches 

 (Church's stage IV) but we have been unable to demonstrate that 

 such is the case in the present species. Church's stage II, in 

 which what appears to correspond to the original branch is divided 

 into two segments, and his stage III, in which the basal segments 

 are irregularly dilated so as to form a sort of cortex, appear to be 

 wholly absent in Neomeris mucosa. In Neomeris annulata, accord- 

 ing to Cramer, f the primary branches of the earlier whorls each 

 bear, with few exceptions, only a single deciduous assimilatory hair, 

 and the primary branches, as shown also by Solms, | are, in several 



h 



* Ann. Bot. 9 : 581-608. //. 2X-2j. 1895. 



t Neue Denkschr. Schweiz. Naturf. Ges. 32 : — ( 14, 15).//. /,/. /, ^, j,5. 1890, 



J Ann. Jard, Bot, Buitenzorg 11 ://. 5*,/ 7, /j. 1S93. 



