266 W. G. FARLOW. 



these curious plants as related to Mucorini, amongst which 

 they are less anomalous than they would be amongst algae. 

 The very fact alone of the Chionyphe being capable of culti- 

 vation on rice paste is almost sufficient to show what its real 

 affinities are, for with the exception of Chroolepus, which is 

 a very doubtful alga, no alga could be so completely a creature 

 of air. Though several undoubted algoe (without elimi- 

 nating such as are believed to be conditions of lichens) are 

 not immersed, they flourish only in situations where there is 

 an abundant supply of moisture. But allowing as little as 

 possible for this consideration, no instance, as far as I am 

 aware, has been recorded of the possibility of cultivating 

 algse on rice paste, the paste draining off its superfluous 

 moisture, and no fresh fluid being added. I have no infor- 

 mation as to the point Avhether the specimens" transmitted to 

 me from India Avere raised from samples which had been 

 immersed in alcohol. They were perfectly dry when they 

 came to me, and fragments of the large sclerotioid nuclei, when 

 placed on the paste, at once communicated to it a red tint. 

 I know of no observations which show that the spores of 

 fungi would certainly be killed by alcohol, and I should not 

 be surprised to find that they survived immersion. There 

 is, however, no reason to assert that the specimens sent 

 to me had ever been immersed in alcohol. In conclu- 

 sion, I would observe that there is no other reason to sup- 

 pose that the Chionyphe has any relation to algae, except so 

 far as it is related to Saprolegnia ; and those persons who 

 have paid the closest attention to fungi, and have at the 

 same time made algse an esjjecial object of study, are for the 

 most part of one opinion as to the affinities of these curious 

 aquatic organisms. 



An Asexual Growth from the Prothallus of Pteris. 

 Cretica. By William G. Farlow, M.D., Harvard 

 University. (With Plates X and XL) 



While studying the development of the archegonium in 

 the Polypodiacece, in the botanical laboratory of the Univer- 

 sity of Strassburg, a peculiarity was first noticed in the pro- 

 thallus of Pteris cretica which seems to have an important 

 bearing on the question of the fern prothallus in general. 



The material used was taken from a pot in which Pteris 



