II 



by its somewhat broader or truncated appearance ; in many species 

 the two ends can scarcely be distinguished. The nucleus of some 

 species, for example, Chara intermedia, becomes densely incrusted 

 (like the stem) with a deposit of lime, which seems to be imbedded 

 in a delicate soft hyaline matrix; this deposit must be dissolved by a 

 dilute acid before the nucleus can be studied. 



GERMINATION. The germination of the Characeae has been exam- 

 ined by Vaucher*, Kaulfussf, Bischoff|, Pringsheim, Nord- 

 stedt|| and A. de Bary^[. To Pringsheim belongs the credit of 

 having discovered the true character of the first outgrowth of the 

 spore, but Nordstedt first clearly and accurately traced, step by step, 

 the whole process; this work, published in Swedish, not being acces- 

 sible to students generally, was reviewed and enlarged by the inves- 

 tigations of Prof, de Bary. From these authors our account and illus- 

 trations of the process are taken. 



As germination is about to commence, the granules of fat and 

 starch in the upper part of the oospore give place to finely granular 

 protoplasm (Fig. i, a de-calcified nucleus of Ch. fcetida, A. Br., n). 



This partially clear spot fills the 

 upper end and has the form of a 

 plano-convex lens, with its convex- 

 ity upward and its plane surface 

 pressing against and clearly sepa- 

 rated from the remaining contents 

 of the cell. Along this line of de- 

 Fig, i. marcation a septum forms, which 

 divides the oospore into two cells, the smaller upper one, the first no- 

 dal cell, from which all growth proceeds, and the larger lower 

 basal cell filled with fat and starch, the reserve material for nour- 

 ishing the germinating plant. The upper cell enlarges and splits 

 the shell along the line of its angles into five parts ; it then pro- 

 trudes a little into the water and undergoes fissation, by. a vertical 



* Mem. de la Soc. d. Phys. de Genevere.lSai. 



f Erfahrungen ueber das Keiinen der Charen, Leipzig, 1825. 



JDie Crypt. Gewachse, Niirenberg, 1828. 



Die Vorkeime d. Charen, 1862, and also, Ueber die Vorkeime und die Nackt- 



fiissigen Zweige den Charen Jahrh f. Wiss. Bot. III., 1863. 

 || Nagra iakttagelser Ofver Charac. gronig, Lunds Univ. Arsskrift II. 

 ^f Zur Keimungsgeschichte der Charen, Bot. Zeit., 1875. 



