THE EFFECT OF LIGHT UPOM THE 6ERMHATI0K 

 OF CRYPTOGAM SPORES. 



1. INTRODUCTION. 



The investigations upon the effect of lig'ht on the ger- 

 mination of fern and moss spores have led to opposite and 

 contradicting results. According to Borodin, Schmidt and 

 others , the failure of fern spores to germinate in the dark 

 is experiraentally demonstrated, while Göppert and Schelting 

 arrived at exactly opposite conclusions. Leitgeb has shown 

 the necessity of light for the germination of liverwort spores, 

 and Milde succeeded in germinating Equisetum spores in the 

 dark. Up to this time no systematic work on the germination 

 of moss spores in light and darkness has been carried out. 

 In order to clear up this existing confusion and extend our 

 knowledge in regard to the conditions for the germination 

 of moss spores, the present investigation has been carried out. 



Before proceeding with the results of my own experi- 

 ments however, I will treat a little more in detail the in- 

 vestigations bearing upon this subject, which have been 

 hitherto published. 



2. HISTORICAL. 

 The early botanists were in no sense of the word phy- 

 siologists, and so from the time when the spores of mosses 

 were first observed and compared to the seeds of flowering 

 plants down to almost the present time, their germination 

 has been treated almost exclusively from the the morpho- 

 logical point of view. A historical summary of the works on 



