1903] ODONTOSCHISMA MACOUNIT AND ITS ALLIES 333 
cellulose is deposited within the cell-wall at the swollen extremity 
of the papilla. Between this layer and the original wall the 
secretion of slime appears and is set free by the rupture of the 
wall. In most cases the papillae are short-lived and soon 
shrivel away. Occasionally, however, there are very clear indi- 
cations that they continue active for a considerable period. In 
O. Macounii, for example, pits may be demonstrated in the mar- 
ginal cells of the underleaves, connecting them with the papillae 
(fig. 13), and these pits are especially striking in cases where 
the cell walls are strongly thickened. 
In the case of O. Macounii, slime-papillae are not confined to 
the underleaves. They may also be found on the leaf-margins 
close to the postical base, on the margins of the perichaetial 
bracts and bracteoles (figs. rg—22), and on short hair-like para- 
phyllia which are sometimes developed in connection with the 
archegonia (fig. 4). Whenever they occur in any of these locali- 
ties they appear to be fully as persistent as on the underleaves. 
Leitgeb has briefly alluded to the fact that the underleaves 
of Bazzania trilobata, as well as those of certain other species, 
sometimes bear a few papillae in addition to those which he 
designates as primordial, but he neither figures nor describes 
them further.?7_ He also calls attention to the occasional occur- 
rence of similar papillae on leaf-margins in more or less indefi- 
nite positions. These he would distinguish from primordial 
papillae, because they develop from leaf-cells (or underleaf- 
cells) instead of directly from the segments cut off from the 
apical cell. Although this distinction may be of theoretical 
interest, it is really of little practical importance, because all the 
papillae, whatever their origin, have the same structure and 
functions. 
THE FEMALE BRANCH. 
The female branch in Odontoschisma affords a generic char- 
acter which has not been sufficiently emphasized by writers. 
This is a peculiar enlargement at the apex of the branch, just 
below the perianth. It becomes evident after an archegonium 
has been fertilized, and is doubtless to be looked upon as one of 
77 Unters. iiber Lebermoose 2:10. 1875. 
