On fertilisation, and the segmentation of the spore, in fucus

Abstract

The object of the present communication is to give an account of the chief results of an investigation into the processes connected with the formation and fertilisation of the oospheres and the germination of the spore in Ascophyllum nodosum , Fucus vesiculosus , and Fucus platycarpus . The more obvious details of development have been especially studied by Thuret, and later by Oltmanns. But neither of these writers paid any special attention to the behaviour of the cell-nuclei, nor did they succeed in observing the actual process of fertilisation. Behrens has communicated an account (‘ Ber. d. Deutschen Bot. Gesel.,’ Bd. IV) of some researches made by himself on the fertilisation of the oospheres, but we are unable to accept his conclusions for reasons shortly to be recounted.