THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



No. 110. FEBRUARY 1846. 



X. — Remarks upon the Formation of Starch. 

 By M. Charles Muller*. 



This subject has already been treated of by J. Miinter in his 

 interesting paper " On the Starch of Gloriosa superba ^.^ The 

 result of his investigations is, "that a process similar to that of cell- 

 formation may also be supposed to occur in the formation of the 

 starch -granules, the nature of which must constitute the object 

 of future inquiry." At the time the above paper appeared, I had 

 also been engaged on this subject, endeavouring to investigate 

 the formation of the starch-granules in the nucleus of the fruit of 

 Chara. I had not then succeeded in ascertaining this, but had 

 discovered the earliest commencement of the formation of the 

 cells in the nucleus, which completely confirmed Schleiden's 

 theory of the cell-formation. Since, however, at a subsequent 

 period, starch only is found in the nucleus in the place of the 

 cells, the simple and natural conclusion was, that the cells them- 

 selves must have been converted into starch. The manner in 

 which this was accomplished was not then evident, as the con- 

 tents of the sac of the spores, which surrounds the nucleus, so 

 soon became turbid, and did not permit of that stage being dis- 

 covered in which the transition of the cells into starch might be 

 studied J. It was remarked in this paper, "that in the mature 

 cells probably new ones arc continually formed, until the process 

 of cell-formation terminates by all the cells being converted into 

 starch." I can now, from actual observation, confirm this position, 

 which was previously deduced by Miinter from his experiments. In 

 the spring of this year I obtained at Wanzleben near Halle, young 

 specimens of Chara crinita having the fruit in an early stage. I 

 took a quantity of it home with me, and in order to examine it 

 accurately placed it in water until I had sufficient time for further 



* Translated from the Botanische Zeitung for Dec. 12, 18L5. 

 t Ibid. No. 12, 1845. 



: On the history of the development of the Charce (Bot.Zeit. 1845, p.443). 

 Ann, ^ Mag, N, Hist. Fb/. xvii. G 



