302 Phillips . — On the Development of 
the somewhat aberrant condition described by Schmitz for 
Chondria tenuissima. Here also it would seem that two 
sterile branches are formed in the procarp, but in this case 
they are ‘ luxuriantly ramified.’ After fertilization, conjuga- 
tion takes place between the auxiliary cell and the nearest 
cells of these branches, leaving numerous peripheral filaments 
unabsorbed, and this takes place before spore-formation 
begins. Finally, from the multinucleate mass resulting from 
conjugation a superior portion is segmented off, and from this 
the spore-bearing filaments arise. 
The most important difference is clearly the wholesale 
conjugation before spore- formation, and the subsequent differ- 
entiation of a sporogenous portion from the resulting mass. 
The absorption which takes place in Polysiphonia , I am 
inclined to regard as of little value for taxonomic purposes. 
It is a physiological process, varying probably with the 
varying demands made upon the sporogenous cell during 
spore-formation, a process analogous to the absorption 
occurring in certain of the higher plants when cells of the 
suspensor prey upon surrounding tissue for the nutrition of 
the embryo (11). Such departures are clearly only valuable 
for classificatory purpose within narrow limits. A conjuga- 
tion preliminary to spore-formation indicates, however, greater 
morphological fixity, and must be differently regarded. No 
one of the species here described can therefore be appro- 
priately compared with Choridria tenuissima in the more 
characteristic features of the development of the cystocarp. 
With regard to the opinion which I have already expressed, 
that the pericentral cell is to be regarded as the auxiliary 
cell, rather than its derivative formed subsequently to fer- 
tilization which I have called the sporogenous cell, it is clear 
that the matter cannot be determined until the conjugation 
of the carpogonium with an auxiliary cell has been observed. 
Schmitz’s success in observing the corresponding process in 
Ceramiaceae leads one to expect that this may soon be done. 
Should conjugation be found to take place with the peri- 
central cell, before the sporogenous cell is shut off, then the 
