OF THE VIUEIONIA. 535 



vessels, the divisions of which, or their contents, soon begin to appear irre- 

 gular .... After a while, these cmis witliin the divisions become agitated : 

 some shake or vibrate ; others revolve in their confined i)laces ; and many 

 come out, thus sho"sving that they are spirals of two or three cmis ; these, 

 with an agitated motion, s^vim about .... Now the field of view appears filled 

 with life : great numbers of these spirals are seen agitated and moving in all 

 dii'ections ; they all have a directile force, one end going foremost, and never 

 the other ; many stray a great way out of the field : these, by getting clear 

 of each other, are the best to observe ; they do not quite keep theii' form as 

 a stifi" sjDii'al, but their foremost end seems to lash about, and to many are 

 seen attached almost invisible but very long fibres. These fibres were in 

 quick undulations, which ran in waves from the spiral to their farthest end. 

 It appears that these fibres cause many of the spirals to entangle together, 

 and thus bring them sooner to a state of rest ; therefore the separate ones 

 were best to obser^'e." 



Among the more recent observations on these motile fibres (from the anthers 

 of Chara vulgaris and Ch. liispidci), are those of M. Thuretin the Annales des 

 Sciences Naturelles, a translation of which will be foimd in the Annals of 

 Natural History, vol. vii., from which we extract the following paragraphs : — 

 " The portion of their body most apparent appeared like a spirally-rolled 

 thread, of three to five curves. They were shghtly tinged with green, similar 

 to the nuclei ; and, like them, tiu-ned brown with iodine, their two extremities 

 becoming more or less coloured (according to the quantity of iodine employed) 

 than the rest of the body, thus indicating a difi'erence of natui^e in these portions. 

 At a Httle distance behind one extremity proceed two bristles, or tentacula, 

 of excessive tenuity, which the animalcule incessantly agitates wdth great 

 rapidity. These are probably organs of locomotion, similar to the filiform 

 prolongation found in the Infusoria without cilia. Indeed, the part thus 

 furnished with tentacula moves foremost, di^awing after it the rest of the 

 body, which turns about in the water, but always preserves its corkscrew 

 form. The incessant agitation of these tentacula, and theii' extreme tenuity, 

 rendered it impossible to observe them in the living animal ; recourse was 

 therefore had to the evaporation of the water, or to the application of a sHght 

 tincture of iodine, when the animalcules ceased their motions, became con- 

 tracted, and theii- spii-al unrolled, when the tentacula were rendered very 

 distinct, from their brown colour. These tentacula were frequently observed 

 to be soldered together from one-half to one-third of their length upwards ; 

 but others were also noticed to be entirely separated do-\vn to their bases. A 

 sweUing similar to that in the flexui'e of the body was perceived in their 

 curves. 



"Ammonia arrested their motions, and contracted the body gradually into 

 a small oval mass, but did not produce the phenomenon of decomposition by 

 solution (diffluence), so remarkable in the Infusoria. A very weak solution 

 of hydrochloric acid in water violently contracted them into a shapeless mass." 

 In Plate XYII., figs. 520-522 represent the speiTQatozoa found in Foly- 

 frichum commune, the first figiu'e exhibiting them enclosed in the cellules, and 

 the others, swimming freely. Figures 522-524 are taken from Marchantia 

 poJijmo)2^Jia. Figure 525 is from Sjjliagnum capilli folium. All the above 

 are magnified 1000 diameters. Figures b2Q-b2S are from the Chara vulgaris, 

 and figiuTS 529-531 ivom. Jungermannia innguis, as figiu'ed in Meyen's work 

 {Neues System der Pflanzen). 



On this subject of vegetable spermatozoa, Schleiden, in his recent work on 

 the "Principles of Botany," remarks — "The doctrine of vegetable speimatozoa 

 is now, I hope, gradually dying away. The gramdes (generally starch), taken 



