THE 



146 



Nature of the Spore-fruit 



In the lowest of the Khodophyceae, the Bangiaceae, a direct com- 

 parison can be made between the product of fertilization and the 

 ob'spores of the Chloro- 

 phycese. 



The division of the 

 contents of the carpogo- 

 nium into spores is 

 directly comparable to 

 the germination of the 

 resting-spores in the 

 Chlorophyceae. 



In the Florideae, how- 

 ever, no resting-spore is 

 produced, but the carpo- 

 gonium either develops 

 into a mass of spores 

 by further growth, as in 

 Nemalion, or transmits 

 the nuclei to auxiliary 

 cells, which are stimu- 

 lated into growth and 

 produce the spores. Olt- 

 manns, whose researches 

 have been important in 

 explaining the process 

 of fertilization, considers 

 the structures developed 

 from the fertilized carpo- 

 gonium as a new plant, 



- Dudresnaya pxrpurifera. A, fertilized 

 carpogonium sending out from the base the fila- 

 me te * g> wnicn ' C( f njugate with the auxiliary 



cells, au. B, gonimoblast, or spore-fruit, pro- 

 duced from the union of the filament and auxil- 

 iary cell. (After OLTMANNS.) 



, ,, 

 " Sporophyte," com- 



parable to the sporophyte of the higher plants. All of the nuclei 

 of the sporophyte are derived from the carpogonial nuclei, and 

 when the spores are derived from the auxiliary cells these seem 

 merely to furnish food, as it were, for the growth and division of 

 the sporophytic nuclei, as the nuclei of the auxiliary cells do not 

 enter into the structures of the sporophyte, which grows to some 

 extent as a parasite upon the sexual plant, or gametophyte. 



Affinities of Rhodophyceae 



The Bangiaceae, as already intimated, show evident relationships 

 with the Chlorophycese, and perhaps connect them with the Flori- 



