The Origin and Development of the Apothecium etc. 
405 
was borne, the basal end becomes rounded. Such free spermatia are 
usually ovoidal. In size, general shape, and relation to the spermatio 
phore, the spermatia which I have describcd closely resemble those des- 
cribed for other species of the genus as well as for other forms of C. 
pulposum. 
Relation of Spermatium and. Trichogyne. 
Stahl finds that the spermatia become so very firmly attached to 
the trichogynes that it is not possible to separate them even by jarring 
the cover glass. The trichogyne is not curved and appears to be entirely 
passive. He says tliere is a bridge-likc Connection between the trichogyne 
and spermatium, and he has figured three cases in C. microphyllum in 
which there is plainly a continuity of the contents of these cells. In one 
of these the spermatium has become attached very near its end wliile 
in the other two the point of attachment is at the side and somewhat 
above the center. The connection is not at the tip of the trichogyne 
but a short distance from its end. In C. crispum (Baur, 3), the connec- 
tion is also a little distance from the end of the trichogyne and at the 
side of the spermatium. Baur says that because of the minuteness of 
the spermatium, a direct connection between the cells could not be de- 
termined witli certainty, but he finds the wall of a spermatium which 
has fused with a trichogyne empty, wliile othcrs which have not fused 
contain nucleus and cytoplasm. He found also that the walls of sperma- 
tium and trichogyne at the point of contact become gelatinized in the 
same manner as the walls of the trichogyne cells. Darbisiiire (25) like- 
wise was unable to see a continuity of trichogyne and spermatium, but 
not seldom he found on old, nearly empty trichogynes small structures 
which he took for the swollen remains of spermatia. He never found more 
than one such structure attached to a trichogyne. I have found sper- 
matia fused with trichogynes many times, and although the spermatia 
are so small, in no case was there the slightest doubt of an opening be- 
tween the cells. There was very plainly a continuity of the two cells and 
the spermatia were always without a nucleus and usually without any 
content whatever. 
The trichogyne in C. crispum and in C. microphyllum is described 
as completely passive. In my material, however, the trichogyne is 
remarkably active. It not only grows for some distance toward the sper- 
matium, but when it reaches this cell it coils closely about lialf-way 
around the spermatium. The opening which is formed between the 
cells is at or near the tip of the trichogyne and about in the center of the 
