Observation 1. 1:50 P.M. Sun excessively hot. Gathered some of the white incrustation on sand in a marsh west of Long Island Railroad depot. Found some Gemiasma verdans, G. rubra; the latter were dry and not good specimens, but the field swarmed with the automobile spores. The full developed plant is termed sporangia, and seeds are called spores.
Observation 2. Another specimen from same locality, not good; that is, forms were seen but they were not decisive and characteristic.
Observation 3. Earth from Wallabout, near Naval Hospital, Brooklyn, Rich in spores (A) with automobile protoplasmic motions, (B) Gemiasma rubra, (C) G. verdans, very beautiful indeed. Plants very abundant.
Observation 4. Walking up the track east of L. I. R.R. depot, I took an incrustation near creek; not much found but dirt and moving spores.
Observation 5. Seated on long marsh grass I scraped carefully from the stalks near the roots of the grass where the plants were protected from the action of the sunlight and wind. Found a great abundance of mature Gemiasma verdans very beautiful in appearance.
Notes.--The time of my visit was most unfavorable. The best time is when the morning has just dawned and the dew is on the grass. One then can find an abundance, while after the sun is up and the air is hot the plants disappear; probably burst and scatter the spores in billions, which, as night comes on and passes, develop into the mature plants, when they may be found in vast numbers. It would seem from this that the life epoch of a gemiasma is one day under such circumstances, but I have known them to be present for weeks under a cover on a slide, when the slide was surrounded with a bandage wet with water, or kept in a culture box. The plants may be cultivated any time in a glass with a water joint. A, Goblet inverted over a saucer; B, filled with water; C, D, specimen of earth with ague plants.
Observation 6. Some Gemiasma verdaus; good specimens, but scanty. Innumerable mobile spores. Dried.
Observation 7. Red dust on gray soil. Innumerable mobile spores. Dried red sporangia of G. rubra.
Observation 8. White incrustation. Innumerable mobile spores. No plants.
Observation 9. White incrustation. Many minute algæ, but two sporangia of a pale pink color; another variety of color of gemiasma. Innumerable mobile spores.