— 54 — 



germination in the dark due to the sugar or the peptone or 

 both? In order to determine this point, the following ex- 

 periments were carried out, 



A 2°/ grape sugar Solution was made from the V 4 pro 

 mille normal nutritive Solution, and cultures of the Funaria 

 spores made for both light and dark. After three days an 

 examination of the cultures showed that germination had 

 occurred as well in the dark as in the light, thus demon- 

 strating the power of grape sugar alone to call forth ger- 

 mination in the dark. A one percent peptone Solution was 

 then prepaired in the */ 4 pro mille normal nutritive Solution, 

 and cultures of Funaria spores made for both light and dark. 

 After three days, these cultures also showed germination of 

 the spores in both light and darkness, with the same increase 

 in size of the protonema as in the case where sugar alone 

 was used. In the cultures with sugar nearly every spore 

 germinated, both in light and in darkness, in the peptone 

 culture in the light also the same, but in the dark the num- 

 ber of spores which germinated was relatively small. The 

 above results had already been obtained when GoebeFs pre- 

 liminary note 1 concerning the same phenomena appeared. 



Similar experiments to the above were carried out for 

 Bryum pendulum, Brachythecium rutabulum, and Mnium cus- 

 pidatum. With these species essentially the same results 

 were obtained as regards the germination in light and dark- 

 ness, but the protonema showed no increase in size, which 

 was such a noticable feature in the case of the Funaria 

 spores. In the peptone cultures the number of spores ger- 

 minating in the dark was rather smaller than for Funaria. 



That the germination in the dark is due to the nutritive 

 value of the sugar and peptone is highly probable, but still 

 it might be claimed that osmotic pressure was the active 

 agent. In order to throw some light upon this point, the 

 following experiments were carried out. Spores of Funaria 

 hygrometrica, Bryum pendulum, and Brachythecium rutabulum 



i Flora 82 : 75. 1896. 



