32 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JULY 
ments were carried out: Two cultures of Funaria hygrometrica 
spores were placed in the dark for twelve hours, then in the 
thermostat at 41° C. for four hours. The cultures were then 
removed and one placed in light, the other in the dark, both at 
a temperature of I9-21° C. After three days the spores in the 
light had germinated abundantly, but those in the dark showed 
no signs of growth, although they were kept for two weeks. 
Similar cultures were exposed to a temperature of 41° C. for 
three hours with the same result. 
Cultures similar to the above were made for Funaria hygro- 
metrica, Bryum pendulum, and Brachythecium rutabulum and 
exposed to a temperature of 32° C. for twenty-four hours. At 
the end of this time they were placed at the ordinary tempera- 
ture, the control experiments in the light, the others in the 
dark. Those in the light germinated after the usual length of 
time, but in the dark no signs whatever of germination were 
noted. Thus, change of temperature is also shown to be insuf- 
ficient in producing germination in complete darkness. 
It is known that ether has a stimulating influence on the pro- 
duction of shoots from certain phanerogams, when under nor- 
mal conditions none are produced. It might also be supposed 
that it would act as a stimulus to call forth the germination of 
spores in the dark. In order to determine this point, a series of 
cultures was made in which the spores were subjected for dif- 
ferent lengths of time to a saturated or partially saturated 
atmosphere of ether. Cultures of Funaria spores were allowed — 
to remain in the dark for twenty-four hours, in order that they — 
might be in a moist condition, and then placed in an ether 
atmosphere. In the first case they were exposed to the ether 
atmosphere for one hour, in the next for two hours, and in the — 
next for three hours. Two cultures were used in each case and 2 
as soon as they were removed from the ether atmosphere, one 
was placed in the light and the other in the dark chamber. The 
control experiments in the light showed, in the experiments tO — 
which a two and three hours’ exposure to ether was given, that 
germination did not take place, and hence that the spores had 
