1898 | THE GERMINATION OF FERN AND MOSS SPORES 37 
nor darkness. In the 0.125 per cent. solution, however, the 
spores germinated abundantly in the light. A series of experi- 
ments was also carried out in which the spores of Funaria 
hygrometrica were supplied with a dilute solution of cobalt sulfate, 
CoSO,. Ihave shown in my investigations with seedlings 
that cobalt solutions are extremely poisonous; hence in order 
to obtain solutions which would not have a toxic action, a very 
great dilution of the stock solution was required. Sowings of the 
spores were made for both light and darkness and supplied with 
Tow soso rote and gyigy gram-molecule solutions. In 
all of the cultures the spores germinated in the light with- 
out any marked retardation, but in the dark, the same as in 
previous experiments, no germination occurred. Thus all of the 
previous experiments point to the fact that germination in the 
dark was due to the nutritive value of the sugar and peptone, 
and not to any stimulating or catalytic action. 
It is also interesting to know the minimum amount of sugar 
which will suffice to call forth germination in the dark. First, 
cultures of Funaria spores were supplied with 51,, x}, and 745 
gram-molecule solution of grape sugar and placed in darkness. 
An examination after three days showed that in the first two 
dilutions, none of the spores had germinated, while in the ;}5 
gram-molecule solution they had germinated the same as in 
light under ordinary conditions; and also with the usual increase 
in size, and with the accumulation of starch. The spores of 
Bryum pendulum also germinated in a solution of the same dilu- 
tion, but those of Brachythecium required a still stronger solu- 
tion, only germinating in the dark when they were supplied with 
vo gfam-molecule. The maximum concentration at which 
germination can occur is not so important, but results were 
obtained in this line for a single species. Cultures of Funaria 
Spore were supplied with 5, 10 and 20 per cent. solutions of grape 
sugar. The first two concentrations allowed germination in both 
darkness and light, but in the 20 per cent. solution the spores 
germinated neither in light nor darkness. In the 5 and 10 per 
* Bot. GAz. 22: 143. 1896. 
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