20 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the act of breaking down. Moreover, out of the 65-'* 

 ovules I have specially examined with reference to 

 fertilisation, 487 of them contain from four to no arche- 

 gonia, and the remaining 166 have from eight to five 

 archegonia. In the 487 ovules the archegonia are distri- 

 buted as follows : — 



Without archegonia - - 7 



With one archegonium - 7 



With two archegonia - - 63 



With three archegonia - - 231 



With four archegonia - - 179 



In the 166 the archegonia are distributed as follows : 



With five archegonia - - 114 



With six archegonia - - 88 



With seven archegonia - - 10 



With eight archegonia - 4 



The first group of figures favours the suggestion that 



many gametophytes initiate four archegonia, but the 



second group appears at first sight decidedly against the 



supposition that they have arisen from an initial start of 



eight ; but it must not be forgotten that it is impossible 



for one gametophyte to produce more than one embryo, 



although it may originally contain the potencies of 32 



pro-embryos, and therefore it will be io the advantage of 



the gametophyte to husband its resources as early as 



possible. 



Be this as it may, it is remarkable that of 15 young 

 gametophytes, six contain eight archegonia, and that in 

 653 mature gametophytes only four were found containing 

 eight archegonia each. In one of these the archegonia 

 are arranged in two tiers ; a tendency to this arrangement 

 is frequently observed where the number exceeds four. 



At this period — the middle of May— the gametophyte 

 is- practically free, floating as it were in a thin plasm 



