= 
Sa 
(=) 
OS 
Fig. 554. 
Ahnfeltia plicata. Vertical sections of nemathecia, 
October, showing groups of generative cells and 
horizontal or obliquely upward growing cell-rows 
springing from them. 625 : 1. 
and poor in contents, while others have a 
rich plasmatic content (figs. 554, 555). Fig. 
555 A shows the border of a nemathecium 
the outer portion of which is built up 
entirely of generative cells and their deri- 
vates. In fig. 554 B is shown a group of 
generative cells, situated at a low level in a 
nemathecium, from the upper cells of which 
new branched cell-rows growing obliquely 
upwards are produced. The lower part of 
this group is reminiscent of the “Senker” 
described by Scumirz. 
In specimens collected in the middle 
of November the nemathecia had grown 
thicker and had also increased in circum- 
ference (fig. 556, Plate VIII, fig. 11). The 
generative cells which have arisen in October 
are found again in the lower portion of the 
cushion, partly immediately over the limit 
towards the cortex, partly ata somewhat higher 
level. They are easily recognisable by their 
greater size, their irregular shape, their dense 
cell-contents and their high staining power. 
A great number of upward growing cell-rows 
issue from them (figs. 557, 558). These cell-rows resemble the primary nemathecial 
filaments, but are, at any rate at first, somewhat thicker than the primary ones; 
they form new, secondary nemathecial filaments constituting the upper layer of the 
nemathecium. The irre- 
gular shape of the genera- 
tive cells depends partly 
on the fact that fusions 
often take place between 
cells from different cell- 
rows (fig.557). It is prob- 
ably these fusions to 
which GREGORY refers 
(1930, p. 768), when he 
thinks it possible that 
they may represent a very 
much reduced sexuality. 
The nuclei of these cells 
were usually not very 
Fig. 555. 
Ahnfellia plicata. From a nemathecium, October. A, vertical section of the border. 
B, generative cells giving rise to horizontal cell-rows. C, generative cells and 
flask-shaped cells. A 960 : 1. B and C 1080: 1. 
