The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1928, Page 98

422
JOHS. BOYE PETERSEN
cf. Gerneck 1. c. Tab. XI, fig. 29, 30) I have found a distinct constriction
at one end in all the cells, which indicates that the wall is composed
of two valves of very different size as in Ophiocytiurn. In the cultures
I often found ernpty cells from which the spores had escaped, and in
certain cases the small »lid« was then lying beside the rest of the wall
Fig. 32. Bnmilleriopsis brevis (Gern.) Fig. 33. Bumilleriopsis brevis
Printz. From culture of soil sample. (Gern.) Printz. From sample 179.
(X 1200). (X 1200).
(Fig. 32 e). Thus there can hardly be any doubt that the cell wall in
this species has in reality the same structure as that of Ophiocytium
(cf. Gerneck 1. c. Tab. XI, fig. 27).
Chlor-zinc-iodine does not stain the wall which, consequently, does
not contain any cellulose.
In sample 179 (Fig. 33) the cells often had a somewhat different
appearance, there being a slight constriction and a small thickening of
the wall at both apices. This was perhaps the beginning of a simple
cell division which I also saw effected. Occasionally the two daughter
cells were curved as shown in fig. 33 d, but most frequently they were
in line with each other. They were not always of equal size, often the
division would give rise to a long and a short cell. In sample 179 I
saw no sporulation, which may perhaps be due to the fact that most
of the cells seemed to be in the resting stage, being filled with numerous
clear drops which turned out not to be fat, but more probably, as
mentioned above, was the same substance which was found by Piercy
in Hormidium flaccidam (1. c.).
In its entire structure Bumilleriopsis brevis bears a striking resem-
blance to the »Ruhezellen« of Conferva described and figured by Lager-
heim (1889, p. 204 f., Taf. VT, fig. 53.) This would seem to indicate a
close relationship with that genus, though I do not think that Bumil-
leriopsis can be regarded as a developmental stage of Conferva.