THE ARCHEGONIUM OF SPHAGNUM SUBSECUNDUM 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY 199 
GEORGE S. BRYAN 
(WITH PLATES IV—VII) 
This paper is planned as the first of a series on the life history 
of Sphagnum subsecundum, the work being undertaken through 
interest in the Sphagnales aroused during a course in the special 
morphology of Bryophytes under Dr. W. J. G. LANp at the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. It is hoped that this investigation may not 
only bring to light new facts in the life history of Sphagnum, but 
when completed may enable us to determine more accurately 
the position of the Sphagnales in the phylogeny of the Bryophytes. 
Field study 
The first stage in this undertaking, that is, securing material 
for study, has been something of a problem in itself. The impres- 
sion prevails, in some quarters at least, that Sphagnum seldom 
bears sex organs. For example, CAMPBELL (1, pp. 163-164) in a 
general discussion of the Musci says: “‘When the plants are dioe- 
cious it sometimes happens that the two sexes do not grow near 
together, in which case, although archegonia may be plentiful 
they fail to be fecundated and then no capsules are developed. 
This no doubt accounts for the extreme rarity of the sporogonium 
in many mosses, although in other cases, e.g., Sphagnum, it would 
appear that the formation of sex organs is a rare occurrence.” 
On the other hand, those investigators who have made studies 
of the sex organs of Sphagnum seen to have had little difficulty in 
securing material. Leirces (8) alone reports his study of the 
archegonium hampered by lack of material. 
Again, there is disagreement as to whether or not the archegonial 
branches have characters by which they may be distinguished. 
As is well known, antheridial branches on approaching maturity 
are marked by their coloration. Have the archegonial branches 
such a well defined character? CAMPBELL (1, p. 177), referring 
Botanical Gazette, vol. 59] [40 
