ALG^. 



105 



tendency, and almost unlimited power of variability. 

 Whatever the number recognized, they are all gela- 

 tinous, so that, when removed from the water, they 

 resemble as much the spawn 

 of some batrachian, as they 

 do a water-plant. Under the 

 microscope they are charac- 

 terized by whorls of beaded 

 threads, which vary according 

 to the species, but barren de- 

 scription would fail to describe 

 their beauties, which can only 

 be realized from faithful 

 fieures.^ The most remarkable 

 feature about these algae is per- 

 haps the incident narrated by 

 Bory. " I made," he writes, 

 " twelve years ago, an experi- 

 ment which ought to be known. 

 After having many times carried from one locality 

 to another stones bearing individuals of this species, 

 which continued to prosper in spite of the change 

 of habitation, I steeped many of them in lukewarm 

 water, afterwards in boiling, and no part of the 

 Batrachosperm appeared under the microscope to 

 have undergone the slightest disorganization by these 

 immersions, and certain sprigs replaced in their 

 native place continued to vegetate after these experi- 

 ments. I do not think that there exist other vege- 

 tables which boiling water does not immediately 



' See the various species and subspecies figured in " British Fresh 

 ^Yater Algje," by M. C. Cooke, pi, 120 to 126. (1884.) 



Fig. 20. — Batrachosj'trimtm. 



