332 
Fanil ’ — 77 ^ Cytology of 
the Fungi, but, surprisingly, was not able to satisfy himself as to the existence 
of uninterrupted protoplasmic bridges in the red seaweeds, a condition that 
seems so patent from a low-power examination of almost any filamentous 
member of the group. Indeed, he doubts the existence of bridges even in 
such a form as Polysiphonia : ( Gleichgiiltig, ob man die Pflanzen ohne oder 
nach mehrtagiger Behandlung mit H 2 S 0 4 oder ZnClJ untersucht, die beide 
so gut wie unwirksam sind, gleichgiiltig ob man mit Jod, Methylviolett oder 
Hamatoxylin farbt, so findet sich in den meisten Fallen, auch an den 
giinstigsten Objecten , wozu die Haare und einfadigen Zweige gehdren> in den 
Tiipfeln zwischen den Zellen scheinbar eine deutliche Schliesshaut , welcher 
beiderseits eine halblinsenformige, dunklere Protoplasmamasse angelagert 
ist, oder es liegt in den Verbindungen ein stark lichtbrechender Korper, 
liber dessen Natur ich mir nicht ganz klar geworden bin. Mitunter gelang 
es mir freilich, ihn durch Behandlung mit Eau de Javelle zu entfernen, was 
fur seine protoplasmatische Natur sprechen wiirde, aber diese Fliissigkeit 
lost allmahlich die Zellen uberhaupt aus ihrem Zusammenhange. Manch- 
mal ist dieser Korper auch deutlich doppelt conturirt und linsenformig. 
Ab und zu scheint freilich eine ganz homogene Verbindung zu bestehen, die 
so oft beobachtete Existenz jenes Korpers hat mich jedoch ausserst miss- 
trauisch gemacht. Andererseits ist es auch moglich, dass die Erscheinung auf 
denselben Ursachen beruht, wie die so oft beobachtete Bildung des Knopf- 
chens in den Plasmodesmen der hoheren Pflanzen.’ 
My observations on gross material, stained and unstained, coincide with 
those of Thaxter, but after an examination of hundreds of microtome 
sections of Z. chaetophora I am driven to nearly the same conclusion as that 
reached by Kienitz-Gerloff for the Florideae. 1 The pits are easily found, 
and, as in the Florideae, never more than one in a septum ; and so far 
as could be judged none of these is the result of fusions between cells such 
as Meyer has described in detail for other Fungi. But the middle lamella or 
‘ Schliesshaut’ stretches across the bottom of the pit, as shown in PI. XXXVII, 
Figs. 7 and 20, and there is considerable doubt as to the extent to which it is 
perforated. In a few instances, but very few, I have found a coarse strand of 
protoplasm, differing in no way from the cytoplasm of the protoplasts, 
passing from cell to cell, but these are undoubtedly exceptional pheno- 
mena. 
The pits in the thin walls of young cells and of the inner sheath 
of perithecial cells are shallow and inconspicuous, but in thick septa are 
deep, always extending in as far as the middle lamella (Fig. 7). The cyto- 
plasm dips into the pits, and, in the case of the deep ones, forms a coarse 
strand interrupted only by the middle lamella. The cytoplasm occupying 
1 Connolly’s observations on Rhabdonia globifera (’ll) are not in accord with those of Falken- 
berg (’01) and Kienitz-Gerloff (’02), for he reports a large strand of cytoplasm connecting contiguous 
protoplasts. His material appears to have been treated with strong solutions on the slide. 
