340 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
sporangium have been ejected, it suffers transverse rup- 
ture. The empty sporangium is cast off, and there is 
left a scar on the side of the ‘‘ palisade cell” (PI. III., 
fig. 18). 
On the same plant we have found longer and narrower 
“sporangia” (Pl. IT., fig. 7) with orange-green contents, 
which we believe to be the young stages of the micro- 
sporangia described by Berthold. This author gives no 
figure of these bodies, although he says they are quite 
similar to those containing the larger green swarm-spores. 
These gametangia (?) we found in all stages of develop- 
ment. ‘They possess the same characters as the sporangia, 
save that they are much longer and narrower. We were, 
however, unsuccessful in determining the presence of the 
biciliate orange gametes (?) described by Berthold. This 
failure on our part, however, may be due to an entirely 
different cause, which we now suggest. 
Berthold’s view that the large, dark green swarm- ale 
are ova, and the orange swarm-cells sperms, seems — 
scarcely conclusive, not only from the nature of his 
experiments, but also from Went’s assertion that the 
larger cells can germinate alone. On the whole, the 
balance of evidence would seem to be in favour of the 
‘* spor- 
angia’’ containing the orange micro-spores are, in all 
ordinary ‘‘sporangia’’ being asexual, whilst the 
probability, ““gametangia,”’ forming gametes. . Why, then, 
the difficulty of obtaining cultures from these gametes ? 
We suggest that the plant 1s becoming apogamous, and 
that, although the gametangia are formed, and although 
the gametes are developed in some cases, and may escape 
from the gametangia, still that they may be sterile. On 
the other hand, the gametangia may regularly, after 
reaching a certain stage in development, become vegeta- 
tive and be transformed into adventitious buds. We have 
