250 Mr. H. J. Carter on Fecundation 



What changes took place in, and what became of, the macro- 

 gonidia after impregnation, I am unable to say ; but it will be 

 remembered that the only other organism present in equal num- 

 ber with the Cryptoglena above described, and to the exclusion 

 almost of all other organisms, was one with a heart-shaped lorica. 

 In this, however, no fissiparative changes like those above men- 

 tioned took place ; but on the third day after the water contain- 

 ing them and the other Cryptoglena had been placed in basins, 

 all other organisms disappeared but this, which had taken on 

 the form of a resting-spore ; that is to say, the cilia had shrunk 

 up or had dropped off, the internal cell had become encapsuled 

 within a thick cell externally and a thin one internally, within 

 which, again, the chlorophyll had passed from a green into a 

 light brick-red colour, and the granular protoplasm into a 

 number of larger granules presenting a more or less uniform 

 size and oleaginous refractive aspect (fig. 29). Whether these 

 were the impregnated spores of Cryptoglena lenticularis or not, 

 I have now no means of determining ; for instead of collecting 

 a few of them immediately and drying them for future experi- 

 ment, this was deferred for a day or two, during which time 

 some other organism (probably Coleps, the usual aggressor under 

 these circumstances) ate them all up, All therefore that remains 

 favourable to the inference is, that this spore, in its active state, 

 was almost exclusively associated with C. lenticularis, and in 

 equal number, and that it did not undergo fissiparation like this, 

 but, on the contrary, passed into the form of a resting-spore. 

 Against this, again, is the form of the lorica, and its having 

 four cilia instead of two ; hence, in case it should be a different 

 species, it is desirable to give it a name and description, which 

 may stand as follows : — 



Cryptoglena cordiformis, nov. sp. PL VIII. fig. 28. 



Lorica heart-shaped, round, transparent, emarginate anteriorly, 

 round posteriorly. Internal cell globular, lined with chloro- 

 phyll and granular protoplasm, provided with four cilia, which 

 issue through the notch in the lorica, an eye-spot median 

 and peripheral, and one to three nuclei or utricles of a circular 

 form. Swimming with its cilia forwards, and a rotating mo- 

 tion on its longitudinal axis. Length of lorica 1 -933rd of an 

 inch ; diameter of internal cell l-1350th of an inch. 



Found only in one instance, in company with Cryptoglena lenti- 

 cularis, when undergoing the process of fecundation above 

 described. 



Having thus established another mode of fecundation in an 

 organism closely allied to the simplest of all vegetable forms, 



