On the development of the Sporae of Anthoceros lavis. 81 



duce themselves therefore to the manner in which the con- 

 tained granular liquid becomes divided into four parts, to the 

 manner in which the membrane of the sporae is produced, 

 and to the presence or absence of division in the mother- 

 cellule. 



If the inquiries I have just made concerning the develop- 

 ment of the sporae of the Anthoceros laevis do not furnish 

 satisfactory results on all these questions, it will at least fur- 

 nish some materials, which will exhibit the nature of these 

 changes in a better light. 



The sporangia of the Anthoceros exhibit this peculiarity, 

 that the development of their sporae is not complete at the 

 same time in the whole length of the fruit, but that the 

 sporae placed nearest to the summit of the sporangium 

 develope themselves much sooner than those sporae of the 

 inferior part of the fruit. This peculiarity of the successive 

 development of sporae in the same sporangium facilitates 

 much the investigation of these bodies. As in the other 

 Hepaticae, the sporae are developed by the number four in 

 the mother-cellules, and manifest almost without exception 

 that disposition which I have designated by the name 

 tetrahedric reunion. 



The youngest mother-cellules which I have found appear 

 diaphanous, generally ovoid, sometimes globular, in which, at 

 one of the extremities, or very near it, we perceive a thin 

 granular mucilaginous disk, of yellowish green, not manifest- 

 ing any determined or regular form, and applied to the wall 

 of the cellule. This granular disk is not perfectly circum- 

 scribed: it is without colour, very diaphanous, and con- 

 founds itself with the rest of the perfectly transparent 

 cellule, without exhibiting any manifest limit. It is in 

 this disk, or rather below it, that, by an attentive examina- 

 tion, we find a nucleus manifesting in appearance a colour- 

 less globule, or round nucleus, (PI. ii. fig. 1.) By the action 

 of iodine, the granular disk, as well as the nucleus manifest 



M 



