May 31, 1901.] 
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 
AT the meeting of the Club on March 10th, 
Dr. Marshall A. Howe discussed ‘The Algal 
Genera Acetabularia and Acicularia’ in the light 
of specimens recently collected by him in the 
Bermudas. One of the specimens he had iden- 
tified as Acetabularia Schenckii Mobius by com- 
parison with type material from Brazil. Since 
its original collection in Brazil the species has 
been found, according to Count Solms-Laubach, 
on the island of Curagoa, off the Venezuelan 
coast, and also in Guadaloupe, but its occur- 
rence now in Bermuda, about a thousand miles 
further north, is a point of some interest. The 
aplanospores in this species surround them- 
selves each with a thick calcareous shell and 
these shells adhere so that on the decay of the 
sporangium wall the spores are left in a single 
coherent mass. On this ground, Solms-Laubach 
refers Acetabularia Schenckii to the fossil genus 
Acicularia, hailing it as the only known living 
species. The generic separation from Acetabu- 
laria was thought by Dr. Howe to be defensible, 
but doubt was expressed as to the nature of 
Acicularia pavantina, the fragmentary fossil on 
which the genus Acicularia was established. 
Efforts are now being made to secure this Aci- 
cularia type for examination. With the aid of 
material preserved in formalin, stages in the 
development of the disk of both Acicularia 
Schenckit and Acetabularia crenulata were fol- 
lowed out which have been observed hitherto 
only in Acetabularia mediterranea and more 
completely in some respects than have been 
recorded for this species. This complete series 
of developmental stages of the disk seems to 
confirm, with much certainty, the morpho- 
logical explanation of the disk put forward by 
Solms-Laubach in 1895. The disk as a whole is 
evidently not a complex aggregate of primary 
“leaf-whorls’ or primary whorls of sterile 
branches, as is taught by Wille in ‘Die natiir- 
lichen Pflanzenfamilien’ and by others, but is to 
be homologized with a single primary whorl of 
sterile branches, as has been suggested some- 
what tentatively by Count Solms-Laubach. 
A point of some biological interest is found 
in connection with the aplanospores of Acicu- 
laria Schenckii, the walls of which are provided 
with a circular lid or operculum to permit the 
SCIENCE. 
867 
escape of the zoogametes. As the spores lie 
embedded in the calcareous massula the lid is 
always turned toward its surface and is but 
slightly, or not at all, incrusted withlime. It is 
expected that Dr. Howe’s paper will be pub- 
lished in full in an early number of the Bul- 
letin. 
The second paper, by Mrs. HE. G. Britton and 
Miss Alexandrina Taylor, was on the life-history 
of Schizaea pusilla, Lygodium palmatum and Vit- 
taria lineata. living and pressed specimens 
were shown of all three; also microscopic 
preparations and drawings illustrating the 
gametophyte from the spore to the sporophyte 
in the various stages of development. For 
Schizaea pusilla the exhibit of the life-history 
was very complete, and the descriptions and 
plates have already been published in the Bul- 
letin of the Torrey Botanical Club for January, 
1901. In Lygodium palmatum the development 
has been slow. During the winter, in the 
laboratory, the spores have germinated and 
formed an irregular protonemal growth, finally 
perfecting their normal prothallia, which are 
spatulate and bifurcated at apex. Thus far no 
antheridia or archegonia have béen found. Of 
Vittaria lineata, fresh material was received 
from St. Augustine, Florida, early in February 
and a complete series of slides and drawings 
secured, showing a much branched thallus, 
bearing gemmee at the extremities, as described 
by Goebel in certain East Indian species. The 
gemme were found bearing antheridia, radicles 
and young prothallia, evidently serving the 
double purpose of a sexual reproduction and 
cross-fertilization. The sporophyte in its young 
stages was also studied and the structure. 
and venation worked out. Pressed specimens, 
named Vittaria lineata, were shown from the 
herbarium of Columbia University, which had 
been compared with Fee’s monograph of the 
genus. Many of these were found to be incor- 
rectly named as a comparison of the spores, 
sporangia and bracts at the base of the leaf 
proved. 
Professor Underwood commented on the Lin- 
nean treatment of the Vittarias, and their sub- 
sequent mutations. ; 
Professor Millspaugh, of the Field Columbian 
Museum, Chicago, spoke briefly on the results 
