were collected at random, care being taken to collect every 

 plant seen, and not to select the larger specimens. On one 

 occasion 352 individuals v;ere "brought into the la^boratory 

 and sorted carefully. Of these 321 were found to be tet- 

 rasporic, 15 cystocarpic, and 16 antheridial. At another 

 time more than 200 plants shov/ed ahout the same relative 

 proportions. In other \7ords, there is on an average an 

 equal number of antheridial and cystocarpic plants, and 

 for each sexual plant about ten tetrasporic ones. An exact 

 count v/as not kept of plants collected earlier in the sea- 

 son, but there seems to be no doubt tha,t tetrasporic plants 

 greatly predominate in nvunber at all seasons. 



The sajne relations are sliown quite strikingly by 

 Champ i a yarvula and Chondria 't onuissima at Wood's Hole, 

 and will probably be found to obtain in many other red al- 

 gae. Similar numerical prepondera-nce of tetrasporic plants 

 has been noted in Laurencia by PHILLIPS C96), in Polysi - 

 phonia at ITaples by OLTMAIJUS C04, p. 650), and in Corallin a 

 by SOLMS ('01). Professor Pa-rlow states that among the 

 red algae, "tetrasporic plants are a good deal more co/nmon 

 than sexual plants, and, in decidedly tlie majority of spe- 

 cies which I have examined, I have had to look t}irough a 

 mass of tetrasporic plants before coming to any bearing sex- 



