93 



XVII. — On Chara vulgaris. By Cornelius Varley, Esq. 

 (Read Nov. 12, 1845). 



Chara being the plant in which the important fact of vegetable cir- 

 culation was discovered, and in which, from the extreme simplicity of 

 its structure, much more is possibly observable, and with lower 

 magnifying powers than other plants require, I trust you will favour- 

 ably receive the additional observations which I now offer with a view 

 of increasing our knowledge of that interesting plant. 



Through the liberal aid of R. H. Solly, Esq., who first made me 

 acquainted with the plant, various observations of mine on Chara, 

 Nitella, &c, have been published in the ' Transactions of the Society 

 of Arts.' And I have now again subjected the plant to more rigorous 

 observations, and have made correct tracings with my graphic micro- 

 scope of every circumstance that appeared to be of consequence. 

 The result has been the finding much order in the arrangement of the 

 different parts, together with the successive dependence of those 

 parts on each other, and also a regular difference in the character and 

 importance of the cells. 



Description of the Seed. 



The first indication of the seed on the parent plant is the seed-case, 

 which is situated between four green sprouts, w, fig. 1, pi. 14. Five 

 tubes, «, first appear close together, each having a terminal cell. 

 These are twisted together spirally to the left, like a five-threaded 

 screw, of two and a half turns, leaving a transparent and nearly paral- 

 lel space between them. As the seed grows this space widens and 

 becomes opaque, showing that the seed then fills the case. When 

 full-grown it becomes like «, fig. 2. 



The circulation in the spiral tubes is from the bottom to the top, at 

 the outer side, and down again on the inner side next the seed, as 

 shown by the arrows. I notice this particular, because in the other 

 contiguous tubes which surround the stem and fruit-arms the course 

 of the circulation is different. The spiral to the left is also peculiar 

 to the seed, all the other spirals being to the right. 



TRANS. MIC. SOC. VOL. II. K 



