Biology of Fegatella conic a. 
”5 
Postscript. 
In a recent number of ‘Torreya’ (April, 1903), there appeared an 
interesting note by C. A. King on the explosive discharge of antherozoids 
in Fegatella , in which reference was made to the previously published 
accounts of a similar phenomenon in Asterella californica by Peirce, and in 
Fegatella by the present writer. At the time of writing the note which 
appeared in the 5 Annals of Botany,’ January, 1903, I was not aware of any 
previous accounts of such discharges, which are not mentioned in any of the 
numerous works on the structure and biology of the Hepaticae to which 
I have had access (see list of literature consulted). It appears, however, 
that the violent discharge of antherozoids in Fegatella was observed and 
described by the late M. Thuret nearly half a century ago. M. Ed. Bornet, 
who kindly wrote informing me of this observation of Thuret’s, which 
appears to have remained unnoticed by practically all subsequent writers on 
this group of plants, says in his letter : £ L’emission a distance des anthero- 
zoi'des du Fegatella conica a ete observee en 1 856 par G. Thuret. II en 
a donne la description dans une note inserde dans le tome iv des Memoires 
de la Soci^te des Sciences naturelles de Cherbourg, p. 21 6. J’ai rappele 
cette observation dans la Notice biographique sur G. Thuret qui se trouve 
dans les Annales des Sciences naturelles, Botanique, s^r. v, tome ii, p. 336, 
1875. En general les ouvrages consacres a la systematique ne reproduisent 
pas les observations biologiques. Voyer Botanische Zeitung, 1858, p. 1 44, 
ou la note de M. Thuret est analysee.’ Thuret’s observations are also 
briefly referred to by M. Le Jolis in his c Remarques sur la nomenclature 
hepaticologique,’ 1894, p. 130. 
Summary. 
1. Although the pores are of the simple type, as opposed to the 
complex or barrel-like type found in Marchantia and Preissia, the thallus 
of Fegatella presents a higher degree of internal differentiation than is 
found in any other Marchantiaceous form. The air-chambers are lined 
by long hyaline cells, from which localized evaporation of the water into 
the chambers takes place. The midrib contains highly developed mucilage- 
organs, arising as rows of large cells which are devoid of chlorophyll and 
starch, but contain dense protoplasm ; the concentric layers of mucilage 
are derived from the protoplasm, not from the cell- walls. 
2. The ventral tissue of the thallus, underlying the air-chambers, 
is frequently infested by a Fungus forming a mycorhizal zone. The 
relationship between the Fungus and the host-plant may be regarded as 
symbiotic in character, enabling the host to assume a partially saprophytic 
mode of nutrition at the expense of the humous substratum. 
3. The sessile cushion-like antheridial receptacle presents from four 
to eight growing-points, each producing rows of antheridia in acropetal 
succession ; it clearly represents a branch-system, as in Marchantia and 
Preissia. The receptacle contains air-chambers lined by inwardly-projecting 
hyaline cells, as in the thallus, and the pores are barrel-shaped. 
