40 



DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA. 



CHAP. III. 



The little masses of aggregated matter are of the 

 most diversified shapes, often spherical or oval, some- 

 times much elongated, or quite irregular with thread- 

 or necklace-like or club-formed projections. They 

 consist of thick, apparently viscid matter, which in 

 the exterior tentacles is of a purplish, and in the 

 short discal tentacles of a greenish, colour. These 

 little masses incessantly change their forms and posi- 

 tions, being never at rest. A single mass will often 

 separate into two, which afterwards reunite. Their 

 movements are rather slow, and resemble those of 

 Amoeba? or of the white corpuscles of the blood. We 



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! / 



1 



FIG. 7. 

 (Drosera rotundifolia.') 



Diagram of the same cell of a tentacle, showing the various forms successively 

 assumed by the aggregated masses of protoplasm. 



may, therefore, conclude that they consist of proto- 

 plasm. If their shapes are sketched at intervals 

 of a few minutes, they are invariably seen to have 

 undergone great changes of form ; and the same 

 cell has been observed for several hours. Eight rude, 

 though accurate sketches of the same cell, made at 

 intervals of between 2 m. or 3 m., are hero given 



* O 



(fig. 7), and illustrate some of the simpler and com- 

 monest changes. The cell A, when first sketched, 

 included two oval masses of purple protoplasm touch- 

 ing each other. These became separate, as shown 

 at B, and then reunited, as at C. After the next 

 interval a very common appearance was presented 



