420 Prof. Henfrey on the Cell-contents of Closterium. 



but Ml*. Wenham* pointed out the error into which Mr. Osborne 

 had fallen, in common with a previous observer, Fockef. 



Although assured of the absence of cilia, the movements still 

 appeared to me to present some peculiarities, which were unlike 

 ordinary rotation of the cell-contents ; and the reference to this 

 in a recent paper by Prof. Nageh J induced me to re-examine 

 the subject. Nageli^s account of the . phsenomenon is tolerably 

 correct so far as it goes, but is imperfect ; his conclusion, how- 

 ever, in which he propounds that this phsenomenon is an ex- 

 ample of a peculiar kind of motion, which he calls '^ glitsch- 

 bewegung'' (gliding movement), appears to me unwarranted. 



I have very carefully studied, during the present month (May 

 1858), individuals of Closterium Lunula in a healthy state, by the 

 help of a new ygth objective of Ross, using an achromatic con- 

 denser. The following has been the result. 



The cell-contents exhibit a special mode of arrangement, which 

 will be most conveniently described together with their charac- 

 ters, as observed both in the natural condition and when pressed 

 out carefully from the ruptured cell-membrane. The green 

 matter (endochrome) consists of a tough, slightly elastic, jelly- 

 like substance of a green colouV (protoplasm coloured by diffused 

 chlorophyll ?) ; the longitudinal lines are regions where this 

 green jelly is denser, and moreover of a far deeper (grass-) green 

 colour. The large globules distributed in the endochrome are 

 chlorophyll-corpuscles, consisting of a still more dense, green, 

 jelly-like matter bounded by a definite outline, but without a 

 membrane or enclosing pellicle. In the present examples each 

 chlorophyll-corpuscle contained from twelve to twenty angular 

 starch- granules, arranged in the ordinary way of grouped or 

 compound starch-granules, but not absolutely in contact. In 

 their natural state, these starch -granules appeared brighter than 

 the chlorophyll-mass in which they were imbedded ; with iodine 

 they were at once coloured violet. 



The green mass, consisting of two portions, one belonging to 

 each half of the elongated cell, does not fill the cell, but leaves 

 a clear submarginal space, — the region in which the circulation 

 is observed. The green jelly is not bounded by any pellicle or 

 proper coat ; it is somewhat elastic, as above noticed, since by 

 gentle pressure it could be forced up quite to the cell-wall at 

 the margins and ends, and it returned to its place when the 

 pressure was removed (this operation very quickly arrested the 

 circulation). The space between the green matter and the cell- 

 wall is filled by a colourless liquid, in which swim innumerable 



* Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science, iv. p. 157. 



t Physiologische Studien, 1st Heft, p. 54, 1847- 



X Pflanzenphysiologische Untersuch. Zurich, 1855, p. 49. 



