_b._ ENDOTROPHIC. Winter[469] examined the later stages of internal
cephalodine formation in a species of _Sticta_. The alga, probably a
species of _Rivularia_, which gives origin to the cephalodia, may be
situated immediately below the upper cortex, in the medullary layer
close to the gonidial zone, or between the pith and the under cortex.
The protuberance caused by the increasing tissue, which also contains
the invading alga, arises accordingly either on the upper or the lower
surface. In some cases it was found that the normal gonidial layer had
been pushed up by the protruding cephalodium and lay like a cap over the
top. The cephalodia described by Winter are endogenous in origin, though
the mature body finally emerges from the interior and becomes either
epigenous or hypogenous. Schneider[470] has followed the development of a
somewhat similar endotrophic or endogenous type in _Sticta oregana_ due
also to the presence of a species of _Rivularia_. How the alga attained
its position in the medulla of the thallus was not observed.
[Illustration: Fig. 79. _Nephroma expallidum_ Nyl. Vertical section of
thallus. _a_, endotrophic cephalodium × 100 (after Forssell).]
Both the algal cells of internal cephalodia and the hyphae in contact
with them increase vigorously, and the newly formed tissue curving
upwards or downwards appears on the outside as a swelling or nodule
varying in size from that of a pin-head to a pea. On the upper surface
the gonidial zone partly encroaches on the nodule, but the foreign alga
remains in the centre of the structure well separated from the thalline
gonidia by a layer of hyphae. The group is internally divided into small
nests of dark-green algae surrounded by strands of hyphae (Fig. 79).
The swellings, when they occur on the lower surface of the lichen,
correspond to those of the upper in general structure, but there is no
intermixture of thalline gonidia. That _Nostoc_ cells can grow and retain
the power to form chlorophyll in adverse conditions was proved by Etard
and Bouilhac[471] who made a culture of the alga on artificial media in
the dark, when there was formed a green pigment of chlorophyll nature.
Endotrophic cephalodia occur in many groups of lichens. Hue[472]
states that he found them in twelve species of _Aspicilia_. As packets
of blue-green algae they are a constant feature in the thallus of
_Solorinae_. The species of that genus grow on mossy soil in damp places,
and must come frequently in contact with _Nostoc_ colonies. In _Solorina
crocea_ an interrupted band of blue-green algae lies below the normal
gonidial zone and sometimes replaces it—a connecting structure between
cephalodia and a true gonidial zone.
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