17.") 



Exogenous Origin of Antmekidia in Anthoceros. — On 

 pages 436-438 of volume 53 (1903) of the Oesterreichische 

 Botanische Zeitschrift, Emma Lampa describes and figures or- 

 gans which she calls antheridia of exogenous origin in Antho- 

 ceros. On fust seeing this paper nearly a year ago, I was strongly 

 impressed with doubts as to the antheridial nature of the organs 

 described, and now that an American morphologist has quoted * 

 without criticism this rather heterodox observation of Frau 

 Lampa's, it may be worth while, even at the risk of being wholly 

 in error, to record some of the grounds for these doubts. In the 

 first place, the species in which the exogenous antheridia are said 

 to occur is Anthoceros dichotomus, a South-European species 

 whicli, like the Australian Anthoceros tiiberosus -\ -zx\d the Cali- 

 {ornxdiW Anthoceros phy]iiatodes,X produces tubers,^ somewhat simi- 

 lar in form and structure to the alleged antheridia figured by 

 Frau Lampa. These tubers arise near the apices of the branches 

 of the thallus, but later become ventral by the continued growth 

 of the branch. Frau Lampa makes no mention of having ob- 

 served tubers, but remarks that "Die Antheridien sassen gewohn- 

 lich am Thallusende." Furthermore, the pedicels of the "anthe- 

 ridia" as figured by Frau Lampa are very broad and stout, one 

 of them showing a width often cells, whereas the pedicels of the 

 antheridia in the genus Anthoceros, as figured and described by 

 other observers || consist of no more than four rows of cells, 

 showing a maximum width of only two or three in surface view 



* Davis. 15. M. The Relationships of Sexual Organs in Plants. Botanical 

 Gazette, 38 : 253. O. 1904. 



f See Ashworth, J. \\. On the Structure and Contents of the Tubers oi Antho- 

 ceros tuberosKS Taylor. Pp. 1-6, //. 2. Mem. and Proc. Manchester Lit. and 

 Philosoph. Soc. 41 : part I, no. 2. 1896. 



J Howe, M. A. Hull. Torrey Club, 25: 12-14. //. 324,^2^. 1898. Mem. 

 Torrey Club, 7: 179-183.//. 7/7, 118. 1899. 



\ A figure of the tubers of Anthoceros dichotomus in their fully developed condition 

 is given by Goebel on p. 293 of his Organographie der Pflanzen. 



II Waldner, M. Die Entwickelungdes Antheridiums von Anthoceros. Sitzungsber. 

 math.-naturwiss. Classe d. kaiserl. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 75 : 87, 91, etc.,y. bn, "jci, S. 

 1877. 



Campbell, D. II. The Structure and Development of the Mosses and Perns, 124. 

 1895. 



Schiffner; Eng. & Prantl, Nat. PHanzenfam. i*: 137. 1S95. 



