BOTANY: D. H. CAMPBELL 
495 
The highly developed photosynthetic tissues of the sporophyte of 
Anthoceros, and its long period of growth, due to the persistence of 
actively dividing cells at its base, suggest that if the sporophyte were 
able to absorb water directly, instead of through the mediation of the 
gametophyte, it might be possible for it to live and develop when sep- 
arated from the gametophyte, and thus to simulate the behavior of the 
young fern-sporophyte. 
Prehminary experiments were made in the spring of 1916, and more 
extended ones were made during the winter and spring of 1916-17. 
While these experiments were of a somewhat tentative character, 
and by no means exhaustive, the results were sufficiently interesting to 
seem worthy of record. 
The species chosen for experiment, Anthoceros Pearsoni Howe, is a 
common liverwort in the vicinity of Stanford University. Young 
sporophytes were noted during the autumn, and' plants were brought in 
at intervals during the late autumn and winter. They were kept in a 
cool greenhouse where they grew luxuriantly and furnished abundant 
material for experiment. 
The large foot of the sporophyte is so completely grown to the sur~ 
rounding tissue of the gametophyte, that it is impossible to completely 
isolate the sporophyte without removing the foot. It was therefore 
necessary to cut away, as completely as possible, the gametophytic 
tissues, thus exposing the foot of the sporophyte. 
In the first experiments, the isolated sporophytes were placed with 
the lower part in a nutritive solution (Knop's Solution) but this was not 
found to be satisfactory, as bacteria developed to such an extent as to 
quite envelop the submerged part of the sporophyte, whose growth was 
thus much interfered with, although in some cases they survived for a 
month or more. 
Much more satisfactory results were obtained by planting in steri- 
lized earth. Small flower-pots filled with earth were thoroughly steri- 
lized, and after planting, the flower-pots were placed in vessels filled 
with boiled tap water, thus avoiding watering from above. Each pot 
was covered with a tumbler, and in this way the isolated sporophytes 
were kept in a healthy state for a surprisingly long time. 
Sooner or later Oscillatoria and other algal growths appeared, but 
probably with proper care these might be pretty well eliminated. 
For a short time, a slight increase in length was noted, but this was in 
no case very marked. The most striking effect of the transplanting 
was apparently a marked hastening of the spore formation. Most of 
the specimens selected had not yet begun to show spores, and the 
