DEVELOPMENT OF SPORANGIUM IN BOTRYCHIUM. 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL 
LABORATORY. LXXI. 
Ira D. CARDIFF 
(WITH PLATE IX) 
THE present work upon Botrychium was taken up with the pur- 
pose of investigating what was thought by some to be septation 
caused by sterilization of mother-cells in the sporangium of B. ternaium. 
Both B. ternatum and B. virginianum were examined, and the two 
species were found to be essentially the same in their sporangial 
development. The material of B. virginianum was collected near 
Woodville, Indiana, March 14, 1904; that of B. ternatum was col- 
lected near Sullivan, Ohio. 
The early stages in the development of the Botrychium sporangium 
were studied by BowER (1), CAMPBELL (2), and GOEBEL (5), but 
apparently none of them studied the interesting later stages. In 
the present work, though a number of preparations were examined, 
no special attention was given to the early development further than 
to confirm the studies of the above mentioned investigators, namely, 
that the sporogenous mass originates from a single hypodermal 
archesporial cell. CAMPBELL (2) says that the later divisions in the 
archesporium do not follow any definite rule, but take place irregt- 
larly. This does not accord with my observations, the divisions in 
B. ternatum and B. virginianum taking place with great regularity j 
CAMPBELL implies that his fig. 129, C, which shows no regularity 1n 
cell-arrangement, is in the mother-cell stage. If this is true, it indicates 
an unusually small output for a Botrychium. Horrzman (6) made 
some observations upon the later development of the sporangium of 
Botrychium, but Bower (1) thinks that the sequence of segmenta 
tions, as shown in Horzman’s figs. 3-6, is not sufficiently intelli 
gible, and should be investigated afresh. He thinks that Holt? 
MAN’S description suggests a mode of segmentation more clearly 
analogous to that in leptosporangiate ferns. 
[May 
340 
