NOTES. 
APOSPORY IN THE CHARACEAE.— In his recent paper 
‘On Apospory and Allied Phenomena ’ 1 2 Prof. Bower criticises the 
view expressed by me in a paper on ‘ The Pro-embryo of Chara V 
that the ‘ pro-embryo ’ of the Characeae represents the asexual genera- 
tion in the life-history of these plants, and is in fact an aposporous 
sporophyte. 
I fail to perceive that Prof. Bower’s criticism touches the real merits 
of the case. My view does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that 
every lateral bud is to be regarded as an independent generation, nor 
to the assumption that the protonema of Mosses represents a third 
generation in the life-history of those plants, as Prof. Bower suggests. 
My argument is based, not upon any special virtue of ‘ laterality ’ of 
budding, but upon the general law that, in plants which present an 
alternation of generations, that which proceeds from the oospore is the 
sporophyte. If this holds good in Mosses, Ferns, etc., why should it not 
apply in the Characeae, where the oospore does not, as in the Fucaceae* 
give rise to a normal oophyte, but to something different ? The idea 
of an aposporous sporophyte, though somewhat hazardous at the time 
my paper was written, has been fully justified by Prof. Bower’s own 
researches. 
My views on the subject have, however, undergone considerable 
modification, and I am glad to* have this opportunity of stating that 
such is the case. But this is due, not to any a priori objections, but 
to facts which have come to light in recent years. I have always been 
conscious that the true significance of the pro-embryo of the Characeae 
would be made clear, not directly by the discovery of an asexual 
production of spores by the pro-embryo, but by the investigation of 
the embryology of other Algae, especially of the Florideae and the 
Phaeosporeae. This has been to some extent realised by Sirodot’s 
remarkable observations on certain families of the Florideae, the 
1 Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. ii, Part 14. 
2 Journal of Botany, 1878. 
