ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 7(33 
on Hormosira and Fucodium. No antherids were detected. Eacli oogone 
contains eight oospheres, one at each end, the remainder arranged in the 
centre in two groups of three each. 
In Sarcophycus potatorum Miss F. G. Whitting * finds four oospheres 
in each oogone, formed as follows : — the protoplasm of the immature 
oogone divides into three transversely, and the middle portion then again 
divides into two longitudinally. Sarcophycus differs from Durvillsea in 
the frond being solid to the centre, while in the latter genus it is 
lacunar beneath the cortex, the lacunae being separated by strauds of 
anastomosing filaments. 
Fucosan.j — According to Herr E. Crato, the bodies thus designated 
by Hansteen^; and found in Fucus serratus and other Fucoideae, are not of 
the nature asserted by him. They do not, as stated by Hansteen, con- 
stitute a hitherto unknown carbohydrate, but are of the nature of 
physodes.§ They are vesicular structures filled with a more or less 
fluid substance, having a power of motion of their own, and not merely 
carried passively by the currents of protoplasm. 
Cryptostomates of the Phgeophyce9e.|| — Mr. G. Murray describes 
the structure and development of the cryptostomates (Fasergriibchen or 
sterile conceptacles) in Adenocystis, Alaria , and Saccorhiza. In Alaria 
the rudimentary cryptostomates are tufts of hairs with basal growth, 
the cell at the apex of the hair being first cut off from the epidermal 
layer. In Adenocystis they occur in the middle of sori of unilocular 
sporanges ; in Hydroclathrus among the plurilocular sporanges. 
Structure of Hydroclathrus.! — Miss M. 0. Mitchell has studied the 
structure of Hydroclathrus ( sinuosus and clathratus ), a genus which has 
been separated from the Asperococcoideae in consequence of possessing, 
as far as is at present known, plurilocular sporanges only. The struc- 
ture and development of the cryptostomates and of the sporanges are 
described in detail. H. sinuosus has neither an apical cell nor any 
area of special growth ; increase in size takes place by division of the 
epidermal cells. 
Systematic Position of the Bangiacese.**— Prof. F. Schmitz reiter- 
ates his arguments in favour of removing the Bangiaceae or Porphyraceae 
from the Florideae, where they are usually placed. The agreement in 
colour he considers to be a character of far less importance that the great 
difference in the vegetative structure, and especially in the mode of repro- 
duction. These plants never form true tetraspores, although the ordi- 
nary cells of the thallus may sometimes divide into four. Any ordinary 
cell of the thallus can, in the Bangiaceae, become a female cell, and there 
is never any formation of a trichogyne. The mode of union of the 
male and female elements is also different in the two groups. The 
author prefers to remove the Bangiaceae altogether from the Florideae, 
* Phycol. Mem. (Murray) ii. (1893) pp. 38-9 (3 figs.), 
f Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xi. (1893) pp. 235-41. 
X Cf. this Journal, ante, p. 218. § Cf. this Journal, ante , p. 58. 
|| Phycol. Mem. (Murray) ii. (1893) pp. 57-64 (1 pi.), 
f Tom. cit., pp. 53-7 (2 pis.). 
** La Nuova Notarisia, iv. (1893) pp. 226-43. 
1893. 3 G 
