208 
Atkinson. — A Monograph of the 
It is quite probable in many cases, especially in the subgenus 
Sacheria , where the antheridia and procarps are so near to- 
gether, that the spermatozoid passes along in the mucilaginous 
coating to the trichogyne on the same individual. 
In a number of sections of the sexual shoot, at the period 
of anthesis, I have been able to observe the spermatozoid in 
contact with the trichogyne during different stages of the 
process of fertilization : Fig. 13 represents the same in the 
subgenus Sacheria ( L . fucina ): Fig. 38 represents the same 
in the subgenus Lemanea (L. australis ). In the latter, the end 
of the trichogyne is bifurcated and a spermatozoid is upon 
each process. Two, three, or several spermatozoids may be 
upon a single process of the trichogyne. The protoplasm of 
the spermatozoid is probably absorbed by the trichogyne and 
conveyed to the carpogenic cell, fertilizing it. The protoplasm 
of the spermatozoid is probably surrounded by a thin film, for 
in the progress of the absorption of its contents by the tricho- 
gyne it becomes shrivelled (Fig. 39). After fertilization the 
trichogyne also shrivels and finally disappears. Its granular 
contents first become yellowish, and the basal portion is sepa- 
rated from the slender portion, forming the carpogenic cell 
(Fig. 40). During the period of fertilization and the develop- 
ment of the carpospores, the entire apparatus of fructification 
is very rich in protoplasm, which indicates a high state of 
activity. It is richly colored with a yellowish, or yellowish- 
green, flocculent substance. 
Development of the Caipospores. After fertilization, and the 
differentiation of the carpogenic cell at the base of the tricho- 
gyne, this cell develops, by budding, a whorl of cells, the 
ooblastema-filaments (Ooblastemfaden 1 ), (not one ooblastema- 
filament as stated by Bennett and Murray 2 ), which immedi- 
ately, or after a few cells’ growth, begin to branch and develop 
into a dense cluster of moniliform filaments, profusely 
branched, composed of short cells. The first cells, and some- 
times the second and third, remain sterile and answer as 
1 Untersuch. iiber die Befrucht. d. Florideen, Fr. Schmitz. 
2 Cryptogamic Botany, 1889. 
