88 Humphrey . — The Development of 
gave most satisfactory results, though chrom-acetic and i per cent, chromic 
gave results quite as satisfactory in certain cases. Owing to the delicacy of 
the plants, thorough penetration of the fixing solution was obtained with no 
difficulty except in the case of the developing spores. Ordinarily, the 
material was left in the fixing fluid from six to twenty hours, whereupon it 
was washed in running water from four to seven hours, and then slowly 
dehydrated through a series of graded alcohols. Schleicher and Schull’s 
diffusion shells were tried, but allowed of too rapid dehydration and a con- 
sequent shrinkage. It was found necessary to change the absolute alcohol 
at least twice. From the absolute alcohol the material was placed in 
a solution consisting of equal parts of absolute alcohol and bergamot oil. 
Turpentine was also tried, but seemed to render the material too brittle to 
section well, and was consequently dropped in favour of bergamot oil. It 
was found best by experiment to add bergamot oil to the alcohol gradually, 
and to transfer to pure bergamot after the lapse of about two hours. 
Material left in pure bergamot longer than two or three hours was in many 
cases too brittle. The receptacle containing the pure bergamot oil and the 
material was then placed in the paraffin bath and heated to about 45 0 C. 
To this small bits of paraffin were gradually added until a mixture of about 
equal parts resulted. The material was next transferred to pure paraffin at 
a temperature of about 55 0 C., after having been in the paraffin-bergamot 
solution from six to eighteen hours, depending upon the nature of the 
material. It was usually allowed to remain in the pure paraffin about 
twenty-four hours, and then blocked in small paper boxes and cooled 
in 95 per cent, alcohol which improves the grain of the paraffin for the 
knife. Albumen was employed throughout as a fixative. In most cases 
the sections were treated with the triple stain — anilin-safranin, gentian, and 
orange G., which gave good results throughout. In certain cases, however, 
as in spermatogenesis and sporogenesis material, iron haematoxylin and 
erythrosin or safranin as contrast stains were used with very satisfactory 
results. Free spermatozoids were fixed upon the slide with osmic vapour 
and stained with gentian violet. They were afterwards mounted in Canada 
balsam. The markings on the mature spores were most clearly brought 
into relief by placing the spores in a solution of 10 per cent, glycerine 
for a few days, which seemed to clear the exospore, rendering it a light 
brown. 
Germination of Spores. 
In September, 1903, a number of capsules, already ruptured, were 
brought into the laboratory, and from spores clinging to these a number of 
cultures in different media were started. On September 14, spores were 
sown in distilled water and in a normal culture solution. On September 26, 
twelve days later, a few spores were germinating in the distilled water, 
