— 59 — 



on tlie earth agreed with that already described by SeMmper,' 

 two protonema axes generally being protuced from eacli 

 spore and growing in opposite directions. There was almost 

 a complete absence of any rliizoid production. Müller- Turgau- 

 claims a quite abundant production of rhizoids by Funaria 

 protonema. After growing for nine weeks the protonema had 

 produced an abundance of 'buds, and rhizoids were tlien pro- 

 duced from the basiscopic cell of the bnd. 



Mention has already been made of the power of Barbula 

 muralis protonema to separate into distinct cells, which are 

 conidia-like and liave the power of growing into new proto- 

 nema. Sachs 3 speaks of this ability in regard to Funaria 

 protonema and Schröder 4 states it as a general principle, 

 that moss protonema when cultivated on too dry soil, break 

 up into the separate cells , which are more resistant , and 

 grown into new protonema under favorable conditions. In 

 case of the leaf protonema of Barbula muralis I have shown 

 that this manner of growth can not be due to dessication, 

 since the culture was supplied with abundant moisture. In 

 my cultures of Funaria protonema on earth this manner of 

 growth was very marked. The cultures were supplied with 

 a considerable amount of moisture, so that the Separation 

 into the individnal cells could hardly have been called forth by 

 an insufficient amount. In the original culture the spores were 

 sowed in the center of the Petri-dish, and after several weeks of 

 growth only covered an area about 2 cm in diameter. After 

 ten weeks nearly the w r hole Petri-dish was filled (6 cm in 

 diameter) with a luxuriant growth of protonema, a large 

 majority of which had grow r n from separated cells. 



The cultures in the light on agar-agar produced no buds 

 although they w T ere exposed to sufficient Illumination for four 

 months. The control culture on earth had produced an ab- 

 undance of buds after 9 weeks. The growth of the whole 



1 1. c. Plate I. 



2 Arb. aus d. Bot. Inst, zu Würzburg, 1:480. 1874. 



3 Lehrbuch der Bot. 366. 1874. 



4 ünt. aus d. Bot. Inst, zu Tübingen, 2 : 15—21. 1886. 



