INTRODUCTION. 1 1 



termed, the rostra, being transparent ; near wliicli also is 

 sometimes observed a pinkish spot similar to that which is seen 

 in the infusory animalcules. The vascular network has now 

 disappeared, and the zoospores lie detached in the cell. At 

 length the granules become perfected, and they are now seen 

 moving restlessly about the interior of the cell, frequently 

 striking against its walls, as though anxious to escape from 

 the con£nement of their narrow cell, and to rove about, inde- 

 pendent beings, through the waters, in search of an ap- 

 propriate abiding-place. Having escaped from the cells, 

 which they are enabled to do, not as Agardh supposed, by 

 the multiplied knockings of their beaks against its sides, 

 whereby its fibres become displaced, but either by rupturing 

 its walls, through their increased developement, as in Lyng- 

 hya, &c., or by some special j^rovision, as in VesicuUfei^a, 

 Zygnema, &c., they fall into the water, through which they 

 speedily begin to move hither and thither ; now progressing 

 in a straight line, with the rostra in advance ; novv^ Avheeling 

 round and pursuing a different course ; now letting their 

 rostra drop, and oscillating upon them, like (to compare 

 small things with great) balloons ere the strings are cut, or 

 like tops, the centripetal force being nearly exj^ended ; now 

 altogether stopping, and anon resuming their curious and 

 eccentric motions. Truly wonderful is the velocity with 

 w^hich these microscopic objects progress, their relative speed 

 far surpassing that of the fleetest race -horse. After a time, 

 however, which frequently extends to some two or three 

 hours, the motion becomes much retarded, and at length, 

 after faint struggles, entirely ceases, and the zoospores then 

 lie as though dead: not so, nevertheless ; they have merely lost 

 the pov/er of locomotion; the vital principle is still active 

 within them, and they are seen to expand, to become par- 

 titioned, and, if the species be of an attached kind, each zo- 

 ospore will emit from its transparent extremity two or more 

 radicles, whereby it becomes finally and for ever fixed. Strange 

 transition, from the roving life of the animal to the fixed 

 existence of the plant ! In exact correspondence with this, 

 is what occurs with the Zoophytes. 



