3 JO Mr. HassalFs Notices of British Freshwater Conferva. 



That the elliptical, spheroidal or ovate bodies here denomi- 

 nated spores are really the organisms by which the species is 

 perpetuated, one filament proceeding from each, there cannot 

 in my estimation be the shadow of a doubt. They resemble 

 those of the Conjugate in size, colour and organization, each 

 spore being invested with one, and according to Meyen two or 

 three distinct envelopes ; and the germination of these has 

 been witnessed in more than one species by Vaucher, whose 

 veracity and acuteness of observation cannot be doubted for a 

 moment. 



In the statement advanced by the younger Agardh, of the 

 disintegration of the usually elliptical or spherical bodies re- 

 garded as spores by Vaucher into Zoosperms, and the per- 

 petuation of the species by means of these, I must confess my 

 utter want of faith, both as regards the Conjugates as well as 

 all other freshwater Confervas with simple unbranched fila- 

 ments, appearing to me, as it does, opposed alike to strongly 

 supported facts and to reason, independent of observation. 

 M. Agardh thus states his views respecting the reproduction 

 of a Conjugata (the species is not indicated), which he applies 

 generally, not merely to the Conjugated but to all other Con- 

 fervas ; and this not from an extended examination of many 

 species, but from an investigation of three only, Conferva 

 area, C. sonata, and C. crispata. 



" During the conjunction of a Conjugata one of the fila- 

 ments is always giving, the other always receiving. The spires 

 of the giving filament first become confused, and it is not 

 until after the entrance of the matter of that filament that they 

 become irregular in the other, and then the two masses be- 

 come confounded together to form the elliptical or spheroidal 

 bodies. The globules of which the spires are composed do 

 not clear themselves the one from the other during the slow 

 emanation of the matter from the giving filament, and no 

 trace of other motion is observed amongst them. On the con- 

 trary, it is in the elliptical body constituted by the mingled 

 contents of two joints that I believe to have recognized a phae- 

 nomenon of locomotion analogous to that described previously 

 in reference to Conferva area. After many fruitless searches, 

 made for the purpose of seeing the elliptical body develope 

 itself into a new filament, as Vaucher has described, I clearly 

 saw them,, on the contrary, dissolve into numerous sporules 

 endowed with a very rapid motion. Apart from the phaeno- 

 menon of union of the filaments which distinguishes the Con- 

 jugates from all other Algae, the only peculiarity in their pro- 

 pagation is, that the elliptical bodies from which the sporules 



