

Oct., mis.] a; YEND0.—ERYTHR0PHYLLUMGMEL1S1 GBUN.). 233 



stem, of those in the deepest position— arc- seen connected to a 

 cortical cell by the plasmic threads. 



The cortical portion is built up with a few layers of cells of 

 rather loose aggregation imbedded in a soft gelatinous matrix. 

 The cells just beneath the epidermal layer are spherical. Each 

 joins with the neighbouring ones as well as with the overlying 

 epidermal cells by the thick plasmic threads. Below this layer 

 of spherical cells and overlying upon the medullary portion, 

 there is one layer of large flat cells, each of which also joins 

 with most cells which may come in contact with it. The cortical 

 cells are rich in a granular content. 



The medullary portion occupies more than half of the thick- 

 ness of a blade. It consists of large and elongated ellipsoidal 

 cells, mostly compressed or elliptical in cross section. They are 

 longitudinally disposed without definite order. The plasmic 

 connections between the neighbouring cells are remarkably thick, 

 so that in the dried specimens, as the cell-contents are shrunk 

 into fusiform or fibrous masses, the whole part of the medulla 

 appears as if composed of anastomosing hyphal cells. 



In the stem, the medullary cells become much more elongated 

 and narrowed than in the blade, and some of them traverse 

 obliquely through the intervals between the larger cells. A cross 

 section of such construction induces us to bring the plant near 

 by Kallymenia. 



A peculiarity in the structure of the present plant is the 

 presence of a yellowish homogeneous substance in some of the 

 medullary cells. It resembles in appearance to the hyaline content 

 generally found in the carpogonal cells of various red algae. 

 The cells containing it are more elongated than the others and 

 seem to have no any fixed position in the medulla. In the dried 

 specimens it is hardened into a cartilaginous mass with smooth 

 surface. The shape of the mass is variable according to the cell 

 in which it is held, but in most cases, rod-like or fusiform ot 

 irregular outline. In the long stretched medullary cells of the 

 stem it is mostly narrow and filamentous. Sometimes a few 

 prick-like processes may be seen on it. These processes are 

 continuous to the threads of the adjacent cells. A similar thing, 



