Oil Bodies of the Junricrmanniecc. 123 



It may further be remarked, that although Laminaria 

 saccharina seems incapable of resisting for a prolonged period 

 exposure to the air, Laminaria digitata does not appear to be 

 affected in a similar manner, as we have recently seen it 

 growing in places exposed at every ebb-tide, near Lamlash, in 

 the island of Arran. Probably the greater succulency of the 

 tissues of the latter plant, as compared with the former, may 

 account for this curious physiological difference. A similar 

 disappearance of Laminaria was noted in the lake of Stennis, 

 Orkney, by the late Hugh Miller. 



Observations on the Oil Bodies of the Jungermanniem. By 

 John Eattkay, M.A., B.Sc, Marine Station, Granton, 

 Edinburgh. 



(Read 13th March 1884.) 



Gottsclie (in his "Researches on Haplomitrium Hoolceri, 1843,") 

 first called attention to the remarkable structures now being con- 

 sidered, naming them "cell bodies" (Zellen Korper), in 1857 Holle 

 changed the name to "cell vesicles," and in 1874 PfefFer desig- 

 nated them "oil bodies," chiefly on account of their fatty nature. 

 Similar bodies were noted by Mirbel in 1835 in the MarchanticEe. 



The main results at which Pfefifer has arrived may be stated as 

 follows : — 



1. Oil bodies may be classified under two beads, according to 

 the appearance they present — (1) non-emnlsiform, or homogeneous 

 oil-like oil bodies, which may be simple or compound, the latter 

 being made up of a hmited number of component parts, as in 

 Nardia scalaris, Blepharostoma trichopkylla, Kantia trichomanis 

 or of more numerous, but more minute portions, as in Lophocolea 

 bidentata, Trichocolea tomcntella, and others, membrane-like walls 

 either straight or curvilinear, existing between these components ; 

 (2) eimdsion-like or heterogeneous oil bodies, in which rounded 

 oily droplets, it may be of cUfferent sizes, are embedded in a 

 medium of different refractive index, as in Radida complanata, 

 Frullania tamarisci, &c. 



2. The largest non-emulsion oil bodies occur in Nardia scalaris. 

 Their form is cylindrical, and their greatest diameter = 0*02 mm., 

 only a small number (3 to 6) occurring in one cell. The largest 

 emulsiform oil bodies are found in Radula complanata, their form 

 being ovoid and their greatest diameter = 0-02 mm., and they appear 

 either singly in the cells, or several of different sizes in one cell 



It may be added that some of the oil bodies of Aneura multifida 



