u(Ut3ii^iMV of Sphfcroplea annnlina. 89 



dually assumed a peculiar colour : they have become reddish- 

 yellow, and the starch-graimles have vanished. The orange- 

 coloured substance is soon seen to acquire a peculiar organiza- 

 tion ; in it may be detected, at first obscurely, but progressively 

 more distinctly, a separation into granules, then into little 

 streaks, and finally it becomes converted into myriads of short, 

 confusedly crowded, little stick-shajjed bodies. The colourless 

 vacuoles between the yellow rings take no part in this transfor- 

 mation. After this the rings begin to dissolve ; suddenly one of 

 the httle stick-shaped bodies imbedded in the substance ac- 

 quires its liberty and begins to move about in the cavity of the 

 cell ; more follow the example ; the movement of these bodies 

 becomes more and more rapid; in a few minutes the entire 

 ring becomes decomposed into a countless number of actively 

 moving corpuscles ; then the stick-shaped bodies of a second and 

 third ring enter into movement ; finally the entire cell becomes 

 filled with these corpuscles, which shoot about and circulate in 

 all directions among each other. It is a wonderful sight to 

 see their incredibly lively motions inside the parent-cell. The 

 vacuoles partly persist during these processes, and they are seen 

 swimming in the cavity of the cell as globular bubbles enclosed 

 by a mucilaginous coat, often put into rapid rotation by the 

 movements of the stick- shaped bodies. 



One or more orifices are formed very early in these cells also, 

 similar in shape and size to those which we have described in 

 the sporangial cells. The first of the stick -shaped corpuscles is 

 now seen to emerge through a hole into the water; it is soon 

 followed by another, and at length by a whole herd at once. 

 Their movements in the water are at first very weak ; they 

 adhere firmly together and oscillate about in masses ; but in a 

 short time they acquire greater energy and become scattered 

 like dust, with infinite rapidity, through all parts of the drop of 

 water. The corpuscles remaining in the mother-cell acquire a 

 more rapid motion the freer the space left them ; but their 

 number gradually diminishes, and within a few hours all the 

 moving corpuscles have left their parent-cell. This is then quite 

 empty, and the orifices of exit can be perceived very distinctly ; 

 empty cells of this kind have been observed before, but their 

 peculiarities could not be explained. The orifices often become 

 stopped up by a vacuole, which with its mucilaginous membrane 

 lies against the hole ; this prevents the corpuscles from escaping, 

 and T have seen them dancing about in their mother-cell after a 

 lapse of twelve hours, then coming to repose and changed into 

 yellowish vesicles. It is not rare to find in the cells of Sphce- 

 roplea, after the exit of the stick-shaped corpuscles, other larger, 

 brownish globules, which often display a sluggish movement ; 



