124 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



commencing after the formation is complete, and the 

 final union of the gonidia into a net, takes place 

 shortly after sunrise, in the middle of summer between 

 four and five in the morning, at the end of summer 

 between six and eight o'clock ; and only in the dull 

 days of autumn, in which however the formation of 

 new nets rarely occurs, sometimes as late as ten 

 o'clock in the morning. The gradual changes which 

 take place in the preparation for fructification must 

 be observed by night, but it sometimes happens that 

 the particular cells do not advance far enough in the 

 dissolving preparation in the course of the night to 

 enable the influence of the morning-'s light to com- 

 plete the formation. Such cells remain all day 

 without any perceptible alteration, completing the 

 preparatory stages in the second night and maturing 

 the gonidia on the second morning." 



The stages through which the cell contents pass in 

 their differentiation into gonidia would be a little 

 tedious to narrate in detail. Sufiice it that the starch 

 grains dissolve and disappear, the green becomes 

 opaque, the plates of chlorophyl separate, the angles 

 are rounded, a lens-shaped form is assumed, and 

 finally a movement in the gonidia takes place and 

 the large gonidia become united into a small net, 

 which union begins even in the last period of the 

 movement, so that gonidia already united in groups 

 are seen still jerking and pulling backwards and 

 forwards. When they have come to complete rest, 

 and united into a new net, the roundish gonidia com- 

 mence to elongate, and the first starch grain makes 

 its appearance. The increase in size advances with 



