426 BOTANICAL GAZETTE | DECEMBER 
was used for fixing, and Zimmermann’s fuchsin and iodine green method for 
staining. 
As in many other gymnosperms, the. ovules require two years for ripen- 
ing. In the first year the nucellus and integument are formed and pollina- 
tion takes place. In the spring of the second year the archesporium and 
embryo-sac are formed; endosperm appears in May, and before the end of 
the month the archegonia are developed ; fertilization occurs about the middle 
of June, and during August the embryo is fully formed. 
The principal results of the study are as follows: 
I, The neck of the archegonium consists of two cells. 
2. The material for the growth of the egg is supplied by the nuclei of the 
cells immediately surrounding it, and has at first the form of very small 
droplets ; after these have passed into the egg they attain considerable size 
and some complexity of structure; and serve as nourishment for the embryo 
in its earliest stages. 
3. The nucleus of the central cell divides, but does not form a ventral 
canal cell. The upper part of the central cell with its nucleus then becomes 
hea destroys the neck cells, and presses out from the egg. 
e pollen tube contains four nuclei, the two male cells being of the 
same size. 
5. After the pollen tube has discharged its contents, one of the male 
nuclei fuses with the egg nucleus, while the other remains in the upper part 
of the egg where it may divide amitotically. The fusion nucleus moves to 
the middle of the egg and divides three or four times. The daughter nuclei 
divide at the bottom of the archegonium and thus there arises a number of 
free cells. These cells then become arranged into tiers in much the same 
manner as in Taxus, according to Jaeger’s recent description. The later 
stages in the development were described long ago by Strasburger.—C. J. 
CHAMBERLAIN. 
THE LIFE HISTORY of a new and interesting member of the Chytridiales 
has been described by Gobi.5 This form, Rhizidiomyces ichneumon, is foun 
on one of the Volvocacee, Chloromonas globulosa, and may multiply so 
rapidly as to create an epidemic among these unicellular organisms. The 
swarm spores of the fungus settle down on the surface of the Chloromonas, 
both the motile and resting cells, and there put forth a process which enters 
the host. While most of the protoplasm of the parasite remains outside of 
the algal cell, a connection becomes established with the host by the enlarge 
ment of the entering process into a sort of bulb on the inside, and the 
development from this of several filamentous outgrowths. These latter push 
eber einen neuen parasitischen Pilz, RAizidiomyces ichneumon, NOV. und 
seinen Nihrorganismus, Chloromonas globulosa eee Scriptis oleate ‘Horti 
Univ. Imp. Petropolitanae 15: 251-292. pls. 6-7. 
