NOV 23 1908 
'The Ohio Naturalist, 
PUBLISHED BY 
The Biological Club of ihe Ohio State University. 
LIBRARY 
NEW YORK 
BOTANICAL 
GARDEN. 
Volume IX. NOVEMBER. 1908. 
No. 1. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Schaffner— The Centrosomes of Marchautia polymorpha. 383 
DelaTorre Bueno— The Broken Hemelytra in certain Halobatinae .. 38!) 
Schaffner— The Air Cavities of Equisetum as Water Reservoirs. 393 
News and Notes . . 394 
IIam.mond— Meeting of the Biological Club... 393 
THE CENTROSOMES OF MARCHANTIA POLYMORPHA* 
John H. Schaffner. 
Since Ikeno reported the presence of centrosomes in the 
antheridial cells of Marehantia polymorpha, in 1903 and 1904, 
his results have been disputed by several investigators. Ikeno 
found centrosomes at the poles of the spindle in all the genera¬ 
tions of antheridial cells and also observed that these bodies are 
at the poles of the last division spindle, where they begin to be 
transformed into the bodies, the so-called blepharoplasts, from 
which the flagella of the spermatozoid are developed. He came 
to the same conclusion, therefore, as Belajeff had several years 
before, through his studies on Gymnogramme and Marsilea.that 
the blepharoplast is a centrosome. 
Miyake, in 1905, failed to see centrosome-like bodies at the 
poles of the division spindle of the antheridial cells of Marehantia 
except in the last division, i. e., in the spermatozoid mother cells. 
From this negative evidence he concludes that Marehantia has 
no centrosomes. He says: “But my present study seems to 
show that there is no true centrosome at least in the Hepaliceae, 
agreeing with the conclusion of the recent study of Gregoire and 
Bergh. The centrosome hitherto reported in the cells of the 
Hepaticeae are nothing but a center of cytoplasmic radiation.” 
It is difficult to imagine how one is to distinguish between “true 
centrosomes” and “centres of cytoplasmic radiation,” especially" 
when the bodies in question are situated at the poles of the 
spindle. 
Ikeno, in reply to Miyake, firmly maintains his former 
position as follows: “Notwithstanding the contrary" statement 
of Miyake, I have no doubt about the real existence of the 
Contributions from'the Botanical Laboratory of Ohio State Uni¬ 
versity, XXXVII. 
