.Jf 



2o5 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [sl^rch 



in rain and humidity. At the mountain top, however, there is a dwarf or "elfin" 

 forest of Eugenia and Vaccinium; yet the humidity is greater here than any- 

 where below. In this "elfin" forest is found the greatest development of epi- 

 phjtes, not alone mosses and lichens, but also liverworts, orchids, and even 

 filmy ferns. 



The final sections deal with the strand formations, w^hich have but a meager 

 development in the region studied. The strand vegetation closely resembles that 

 of the Javanese strand, described by Schtmper, and need not be reviewed fully- 

 The chief formations are the Pes-Caprae and Barringtonia-Pandanus fomiations 

 of sandy shores and the ]Mangrove-Nipa-Acanthus formation of muddy shores. 

 The Bambusa-Parkia formation encroaches rapidly on these shore formations- 

 It is suggested that in other portions of the Philippines the climax forest differs 

 from the dominant Bambusa-Parkia forest of the region described. It is unneces- 

 sary to point out the great importance of this study. It might have been anti- 

 cipated that the broad principles of succession are as applicable to tropical as 

 to temperate regions, but it remained for Whitford to show this to be the case. 



H. C. COWLES. 



Ascocarp of lachnea.— Miss Fraseu^^ has recently discovered another case 

 of supposed reduced fertilization similar to that described for Himaria granulata 

 by Blac£al\x and Fil\ser. In Lachnea stercorea^ a form in which a functioniess 

 antheridium and trichogjTie are said to be present, she finds the archicarp arising, 

 as described by Woron-in for Lachnea scuteUata, from a lateral branch of the multi- 

 nucleate cells of the mycelium. Five or more cells are formed, the terminal one 

 of which becomes the ascogonium. This ascogonium, which is multinucleate, 

 gives rise to a branch, into which pass several nuclei. WTien mature this branch, 

 which is regarded as a trichogyne, contains five or six multinucleate cells, tne 

 terminal one becoming gready enlarged and containing many nuclei, a"^ 

 position and degree of development of this trichog}'ne seems to var>^ greatl), 

 developing as a terminal or lateral structure, which may or may not be entirely 



Inclosed by the mvesting hyphae. Miss Fraser regards this trichog}'ne as 

 intermediate m structure between that of Pyronema on the one hand, where a 

 unicellular functioning organ is well developed, and Physcia or CoUema on the 

 other hand, where the trichog^-ne is multicellular and functioning. Although 

 the position and origin of the antheridium does not appear to have been definitely 

 worked out, the author believes it to arise from the cell next below the ascogonium, 

 that it is a unicellular multinucleate structure, similar to that of P\'ronema, 

 and that it fuses with the terminal cell of the trichogyne. In some cases no 

 trace of the trichogyne could be found, and it is believed that it fails to develop, 

 as in Humana. The nuclei of the antheridium often remain in the cell and 

 <fegenerate in situ or pass into the terminal cell of the trichog)me. Fertilization 

 by the fusion of male and female nuclei in die ascogonium does not occur, there- 



^3 Fr.\ser, H. C. I., On the sexuaKtv and dewlonment of the ascocarp in Uchnm 



P^s. 



Aimals of Botany 21:34^360 



