191 1] Francis Ernest Lloyd 25 



a freshly torn surface (fig. 7). From this surface there arises 

 at once a rose colored cloud. The surface of the mass itself 

 reacts by browning and does not show any disintegration. Such 

 cells, upon Standing in water without the addition of a reagent 

 form either over the whole surface or over a restricted portion of it, 

 a white granulär mass, seen by Howard (1906) and regarded by 

 him as due to the disorganization of the cell Contents (the tannin- 

 mass) on contact with water. The granulär mass is really a pre- 

 cipitation membrane (fig. 13), which, if undisturbed, continues to 

 enlarge as long as there is any free tannin supplied from the tannin- 

 mass, but is unaccompanied by any change in the tannin-mass itself, 

 in the sense that squeezing the water out of a sponge leaves the 

 sponge unchanged. Again, if undisturbed, the sub-spherical mem- 

 brane may form a tube from one point, and this may elongate tili 

 it enwraps the whole cell. The appearance of this tube is so sim- 

 ilar to the hypha of a Miicor or Achlya as to puzzle one exceed- 

 ingly until the origin is observed. I have however watched such 

 tubes grow, and their reactions to tannin reagents show them to 

 be free tannin precipitated on extrusion. By the use of alcohol, 

 it is possible to extract from the tannin-mass all the free tannin, 

 so that, upon subsequent treatment as just described, no such mem- 

 branes, nor any tannin reaction except within the tannin-mass itself, 

 may be observed. This I did by digesting tannin cells (isolated and 

 in groups which remain fixed to the slide because of the coagula- 

 tion of the adhering pectose by the alcohol) in alcohol for twenty- 

 four hours or longer, and then submitting them to the proper tests. 

 Although the tannin-mass shrinks somewhat, it recovers and swells 

 on exposure to water. 



.We now face the question of the occurrence of precipitation 

 membranes which give, on applying a test, the tannin reaction. 

 It must be stated clearly that this material cannot be detected 

 within the unbroken cell, and, as it assumes a finely granulär 

 structure on the outside, it must be inferred that the tannin which 

 was free within the tannin-mass has now united with some other 

 substance. Alkaloids as reagents have in favorable preparations 

 enabled me to see the formation of granules just beyond the limb 

 of the projecting tannin-mass (fig. 14). I have watched the 



