Holtz: OBSERVATIONS ON PELVETIA. a7 
Paraphyses. — When the disintegration of the cells to form 
the conceptacular cavity is about finished, and while masses of 
-mucilage still encumber the cavity, the first appearance of the 
paraphyses can be observed (PV. V., Fig.27; Pl. XIL., Fig. 38). 
At this time the conceptacle is lined with one to three layers of 
thin-walled, ovally flattened cells, which are devoid of chromat- 
ophores or have only a few minute ones. ‘The cells near the 
ostiole have more color bodies. These cells are filled with a 
granular protoplasm like the apical cell, though not so richly. 
The walls of these cells do not stain as deeply as the other 
cortical cells. The granularity referred to is evidently associ- 
ated with activity in cell division. 
Paraphyses arise as protuberances on the inner wall of some 
of the cells lining the conceptacle cavity. These protuberances 
may in young conceptacles project halfway across the cavity 
before they are cut off by a wall from their basal cells. The 
paraphyses appear at first in the lower half of the conceptacle. 
They very soon, even before they are cut off from their basal 
cell, begin to turn toward the ostiole. 
As stated, the paraphyses in the main portion of the con- 
ceptacle arise as lateral buds from the cells 1n the wall of the 
conceptacle. ‘The paraphyses at the upper end around the 
‘ostiole appear to form somewhat differently. They look as if 
they consisted of the unravelled or loosened cell rows of which 
the conceptacle wall is composed, and which crop out in the 
region near the top of the cavity (see /7zg. 29). | 
As the paraphyses develop their end cells ‘especially divide, 
though lower cells may do the same. ‘The protoplasm remains 
in communication between cells. ‘The protoplasm is slightly 
granular, nearly devoid of color bodies, except the end cells of 
the paraphyses about the ostiole. These are well provided 
with chromatophores, from which it would appear that their 
function is in part assimilative. Mature paraphyses consist, in 
the lower part of the conceptacle, of four or five cylindrical cells 
of almost uniform diameter. ‘The end cell is tapering. The 
cells are about two or three times as long as wide. The para- 
physes in the upper part of the conceptacle are more slender 
and their cells are shorter and more numerous, eight to ten. 
The paraphyses are very numerous in a conceptacle. They 
are especially numerous and crowded at the top, though they 
are arranged here in regular, parallel order. In a few cases 
