102 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL XXXII. 
which round themselves up and are set free at once as spores. In 
Pilobolus the so-called collar is composed of a slime which is readily 
distinguished from protoplasm, both by its structure and staining 
reactions. Cleavage consists in the ingrowth of the plasma mem- 
brane. The whole process of spore formation in these sporanges is 
fundamentally different from that in the ascus, and is strong evidence 
that ascus and sporangium are not homologous structures. y 
WALTER T. SWINGLE: Two New Organs of the Plant Cell, The 
author announced the finding of two new organs or organoids; the 
one, vibrioid, being abundant in the superficial layer of the cytoplasm 
of some Saprolegniaceæ and some Florideæ, the other being a central 
body in the developing egg of Albugo candidus. The vibrioids are 
slender, cylindric, sharply delimited bodies about the size of many 
common bacilli, but exhibiting rather slow bending or undulatory 
proper motions in addition to transitory movements, which are prob- 
ably passive and due to the streaming of the cytoplasm in which they 
are imbedded. They are fixed well by ordinary killing agents, and 
when stained are very sharply differentiated from the surrounding 
cytoplasm. They can also be seen in the living cell. Their appear- 
ance suggests that they may be minute entoparasites, but their 
constant occurrence in plants in all stages of development and from 
widely separated localities militates against this view. Their function 
is unknown. 
The other new organoid is a nearly spherical body, located at one 
end of the egg nucleus of A/bugo candidus. It is often a little flattened 
on the side adjoining the nucleus, is not very sharply delimited from 
the cytoplasm, but stains differentially. It seems to be more or less 
granular in structure ; it appears just before delimitation of the egg 
within the odgonium, and disappears after fusion of the male and 
female nuclei; it probably plays some part in these two phenomena. 
Both of the organoids have been observed before, but were not 
correctly described by previous writers. 
B. M. DuGGar: Notes upon the Archesporium and Nucleus of 
Bignonia. In the microsporangium the archesporium occupies a single 
boat-shaped layer. The primitive archesporium is differentiated by 
periclinal division in certain regions of the hypodermal layer, the next 
divisions in the latter giving rise to the tapetum on the outer side, 
and the final division of the succeeding hypodermal layer developing 
that layer often becoming the fibrillar endothecium of authors. In 
Bignonia there is no fibrillar structure, and, in general, no further 
