1896.] Aquatic Fungi. 47 
truth of this, in itself improbable, supposition of Reinsch. 
Although they are somewhat peculiar from the fact that they 
stain readily, and permanently retain their form and charac- 
teristic appearance after the plant has been crushed and its 
contents scattered in the surrounding medium, there seems 
no ground for the belief that they are anything more than 
masses of fatty protoplasm, as would naturally be inferred 
from the fact that they may be present or absent according to 
the character of the nutrient substratum. The variation in 
size of such masses in a given individual is usually extreme, 
some appearing as mere minute granules, while others nearly 
fill the terminal heads. In no instance, moreover, has the 
writer seen one which seemed in any way to connect itself 
with the formation of one of the buds which develop into re- 
productive organs. 
he zoosporangia first make their appearance as papille 
formed at or near the extremity of the axis or of its branches, 
which are soon cut off by septa as independent cells (fig. 4, 
at the left) and soon increase in size, assuming the form char- 
acteristic of the mature sporangia. The latter vary very 
greatly in shape and size, so that any one who chanced to 
nd the extremes of variation without knowledge of inter- 
mediate forms would hardly hesitate to separate such varie- 
ties as distinct species; especially in view of the fact that vari- 
ations in the sporangia are often associated with differences 
almost as extreme in the form and size of the resting spores 
4S Well as in the general habit of the mainaxis. From slender 
elongate nearly cylindrical zoosporangia (fig. 2) to much 
shorter and stouter (fig. 3) or even broadly oval forms, every 
ee a general uniformity in their size and shape. They 
its “aig in considerable numbers on a given tip, usually at 
ath uaa but sometimes also in small numbers laterally be- 
to and when mature the contents divide into a very large 
is f &r of zoospores, while a thickened papilla of dehiscence 
 medat the apex (fig. 10). Finally this papilla, as it be- 
hla deliquesce, is pushed off by the mass of zoospores 
ing . soe the latter make their escape one by one, swarm- 
uall — immediately, The empty sporangium wall event- 
and the a Ppears, leaving a circular scar where it was attached, 
€ is thickly studded 
With er of exhausted plants is thickly stu 
