PHYSIOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF CALIFORNIA HEPATIC 45 
having dried thirty-two days. Between 20 and 25 per cent. 
of these spores failed to recover. The last lot of spores were 
sown on March 3 —fifty-two days after collecting. Approxi- 
mately forty per cent. of these were desiccated beyond recovery. 
Time does not permit at the present further testing of the spores 
of this species but judging from the results of the above cultures 
very few if any spores could endure longer than a few months 
at the most. 
Porella bolanderz was then experimented with, cultures being 
started at various intervals using the same media as in preced- 
ing cultures. The results obtained were not greatly different 
from those in the case of /radu/a though in my last culture 
which was made on March 5 not more than half the spores have 
recovered and fewer still have germinated after eleven days. 
The spores in this culture had been allowed to dry thirty-eight 
days, or fourteen days less than was allowed spores used in the 
last ftadula culture. Making due allowance for the possibility 
of tuxic effects due to the activity of bacteria or fungi that might 
have been in the various cultures it is highly improbable that 
the failure of constantly increasing numbers of spores to revive 
could have been entirely due to any such cause and we are jus- 
tified in the conclusion that the spores of these forms and prob- 
ably some others not yet investigated are incapable of enduring 
more than a comparatively slight amount of desiccation. 
SUMMARY. 
1. Plants of Fossombronia longiseta, as it occurs here, are 
seldom free from infection by a fungus, which, in its relation 
to the host, acts as a true parasite. In early stages the fungus 
is confined to the rhizoids and compact tissue of the stem, ulti- 
mately extending throughout all vegetative tissues of the gameto- 
phyte. Large, black sclerotia develop within the cells of the 
leaves and peripheral cells of the stem, resulting in the death 
of the host. 
No instance of infection of sex organs or sporogonium has 
been observed. 
2. Kimbriaria californica has been found to be infected by 
a fungus, the hyphz being confined to the outermost three or 
