46 BOTANICAL GAZETTE . [JULY 
surmise what prompted the decision. She shared, in an unusual degree, 
the cares and joys of his school life, and was intimately acquainted with 
his investigations and discoveries. For thirty years he taught mathe- 
matics and physics in the high school at Gotha, spending vacations and 
leisure hours in his patient and thorough investigations of Lycopodium. 
He was a successful teacher, reaching the highest rank in the school and 
often assuming the duties of Director. His thorough knowledge of his 
subject, together with a kindly, sympathetic disposition, won for him 
the respect and affection of his students. In 1905 his health became 
impaired, and he went to the Riviera to recuperate; but after several 
months, not feeling strong enough to resume the heavy burden of 
teaching, he retired upon a pension. In 1907, he visited Sicily, Tunis, 
and Algiers. In his later oe Sopa eyesight made the search for 
subterranean prothallia very t. 
BRUCHMANN’S great sc ebacen to science was his prolonged and 
successful investigation of the prothallia of the European species of 
Lycopodium. When he began his studies, nothing was known of the 
prothallia of temperate species except fragmentary accounts of the 
aerial prothallia of L. inundatum and the subterranean prothallia of 
L. annotinum. BRucHMANN succeeded in finding practically complete 
series in the development of the prothallia of L. complanatum, L. anno- 
tinum, L. clavatum, and L. Selago; and his excellent histological tech- 
nique and his skill as an artist, together with a clear literary style, 
enabled him to make an effective presentation of his researches and 
conclusions. Altogether there are 17 papers, but the most important 
are “Uber die Prothallien und die Keimpflanzen mehrerer Europiischer 
Lycopodien,” an extensive account with 199 pages and 8 plates, which 
appeared in 1898; and ‘“‘ Die Keimung der Sporen und die Entwickelung 
der Prothallien von Lycopodium clavatum, L. annotinum, und L. Selago,” 
which appeared in Flora in 1910. 
though botanists, from the time of Hormetstrer, have tried to 
germinate the spores of Lycopodium, no one but BRUCHMANN ever 
succeeded with the difficult species which have subterranean prothallia. 
Some may have failed by throwing away their cultures too early, for the 
spores of L. Selago germinated in 3-5 years; the development of arche- 
gonia and antheridia was complete only after 6-8 years; while L. clavatum 
and L. annotinum were even slower, germinating after 6-7 years, and 
requiring 12-15 years to produce an egg ready for fertilization. A long 
series of cultures in the laboratory, with checks in the field, finally 
enabled him to give a complete account of the germination of the spore, 
