Notes. 
233 
PRELIMINARY NOTE ON APOSPORY AND APOGAMY IN TRICHO 
MANES KAULFUSSII, HK. ET GREW.—Bower 1 has already written on apospory 
and the production of gemmae in Trichomanes Kaulfussii , HK. et Grew. His 
investigations, however, especially with regard to the development of gemmae, are by 
no means complete, as he has only described the primary stages of this development. 
Thus he has observed that 1 the filamentous growths originate from single marginal or 
superficial cells of the frond, and bear lateral rhizoids \ I can confirm this observa¬ 
tion of Bower’s, and may add that, as a rule, the apex of a pinna in which a midrib 
ends forms the origin of a prothallium, from which by continued cell-division an end¬ 
cell is cut oflf. On the other hand, if a marginal cell grows to a prothallium it 
twists away from the leaf surface and turns towards the apex. 
It is interesting to note that the nucleus changes sympathetically and takes on the 
same curved form as the cell itself. The prothallium as it grows assumes a filamentous 
form which ramifies in different directions and bears, at its extremities or laterally, 
sterigmata singly or in tufts. At the end of each of these branches is balanced 
a spindle-shaped gemma as described by Bower. The gemma is bullet-shaped or 
elliptical in form, and is divided by a cell-wall which runs perpendicular to the long 
axis of the sterigma. One or both daughter-cells of the gemma divide in the same 
direction, and from this a many-celled spindle-shaped growth results. The junction of 
the gemma and the sterigma may always be observed as a brownish scar on the 
mother-cell of the gemma. Very often the cell-division of the gemma takes place 
from one only of the two primary daughter-cells, out of which a three-celled stage 
develops (Fig. 1). 
In this case the middle cell divides first, and cuts off a cell perpendicular to the 
long axis of the gemma (Fig. 2). Often, however, a gemma divides in such a way 
that after a four-cell stage, an end-cell of the gemma divides twice in succession and 
in different directions (Fig. 3). By further divisions of these end-cells in the direction 
indicated many-celled prothalloid growths arise which bear lateral rhizoids and thus 
betray the nature of a prothallium (Fig. 4). By continued cell-division of these 
1 On Apospory and production of Gemmae in Trichomanes Kaulfussii. Annals of Botany, viii, 
1894. 
