Notes. 
271 
days the plants were examined for the purpose of selecting material 
to show the development of the receptacles, and whilst looking over 
them in bright sunlight the writer observed a number of jets of fine 
spray arising from the upper surface of the plants. On closer exami- 
nation it was found that in every case these jets, which issued in an 
explosive manner and sometimes reached a height of above two inches, 
proceeded from the little conical prominences with which the upper 
surface of the male receptacle is studded. On holding a glass slide 
a little above the surface of a receptacle and catching the spray as it 
escaped, it was found that it consisted of water containing anthero- 
zoids, some of which were still enclosed within the wall of the 
mother-cell, whilst others were free. The antherozoids of Fegatella 
are much larger than in the remaining Marchantiales which have been 
examined, and approach in this respect those of Pellia ; the spirally 
coiled body consists usually of two complete turns, the anterior end 
bearing two long cilia, whilst in most cases the thicker posterior end 
carries a small vesicle, doubtless representing the remains of the 
mother-cell. 
The writer has found that the discharges only take place on warm, 
sunny days, and are especially frequent when the plants are exposed 
to direct sunlight; they were not observed on dull days, nor when 
the plants were shaded. On bringing plants out of shade into 
sunlight the discharges began almost immediately, continued in rapid 
succession for several minutes, then became less frequent, and finally 
ceased. This phenomenon occurs in Fegatella plants growing in their 
natural surroundings, the writer having, after careful watching, several 
times observed it on the spot. It does not appear to have been 
hitherto described by writers on the Bryophyta. In some Fungi, e.g. 
Pilobolus 1 , As cobolus, the spores are violently ejected by means of 
water-pressure giving rise to jets of spray. 
Fegatella is strictly dioecious, and very often the male and female 
plants are widely separated from each other, since they do not usually 
occur mingled together, but form large patches, each consisting of 
either male or female plants. It is not at all uncommon to find 
a patch of female plants in fruit, although removed several feet from 
the nearest male plants, and it is reasonable to suppose that the 
fertilization of the archegonia may possibly have been effected in 
consequence of the antherozoids being ejected explosively from the 
1 Cf. Scott, Structural Botany, pt. ii, p. 230. 
