88 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AXB PRODUCTIOyS. 



masses on roiks ; others live iu fresh and pure spring water ; otliers cover the soil 

 with a thick brown sticky layer. Diatoms abound in guano, and arc oiten abundant 

 in the crops of lamellirostrate bii'ds, which resort to mud flats to feed, and wliei-e- 

 ever water collects in holes in wood or stone, the slime from such situations requiring 

 only to be scraped up and dried, and the Diatoms it contains can then at any time be 

 prepared for the microscope by boiling in sulphuric acid. Diatoms abound in a 

 fossil state, and Ehrenberg discovered that ' Tripoli,^ or rotten stone, was entirely 

 composed of the microscopic siliceous shells of these organisms, and they constitute 

 considerable deposits in various parts of the world. 



STXSFOIlIi:.E, Decaisne. 



Conjiirjata, Linklater. 



Freshivnter Mgm, composed of cells of various forms, or clmmlered tubes, filled with 



green matter, either gramdar or disposed in spiral plates.^ Reproduction is effected bg 



the union of the contents of two contiguous cells, bg the ejfacement of their tvalls, simple 



or compound spores resulting from this fusion. 



Sub-tribe DESJIIDIE.;E. 

 Microscopic green Algce, composed of two hemispherical carpuscules, free, lasallg 

 united or associated in fat or spiral bands enveloped in mucilage, varied and elegant, 

 alwags sgmmctrical, and with either smooth or sculptured surface. Reproduction either 

 bg conjugation, as in Sgnsporieic, or bg fissuring, or bg means of sporangia. The 

 green matter of Besmidiece is said to possess a circulatiun analogous tu that of Chara. 



SAPROLEGNIE^. {MYCOPHYCE^, Kutzing.) 

 Colourless, aquatic, filamentous plants, growing on decomposing organic matter, 

 resembling Vaucheria in structure. Reproduction hg rounded mobile soosjiores, resembling 

 the spores of Confeme and Vaucheria; and also hg sporangia, containing spherical 

 oogonia. 



Saprolegnia is a minute Alga,^ usually found coating the bodies of drowned 

 animals with hyaline filaments, and is sometimes developed on the bodies of living 

 fish. The filaments are filled with gi-anules, which eventually become converted 

 into zoospores, which are discharged from the end of the filament at first with 

 impetuosity, and afterwards more slowly. These zoospores are turbinate in shape 

 and biciliate. The filaments also produce lateral sacs, bearing sjioratigia, thereby 

 illustrating two methods of reproduction in the same plant. 



VA ucreriej:. 



Green fragile Algtc, formed of simple, not septate filaments. Reproduction as in 

 Saproleqiu'a, ei flier bg zoospores, or bg a sporangium which, after receiving the antlurosoa, 

 becomes detached and sinks into the mud, where it gives birth to afresh individual. 



CHLOROSPORIEJL, Thuret. 

 CoxFEEV^, Agardh. 

 Green Alga, marine or freshwater. Reproduction bg means of zoospores produced 

 bg the concentration of the green matter, and tvUh or without the formation of anther idia. 



Sub-Tribe CEDOGOXIEJE. 

 Green Algce, verg si>nple in structure, consisting of a series of simple or branched cells. 



Sub-Tribe CONFERVIEiE. 

 Section a. Unicellulares. 

 Each cell producing several spores furnished with vibrating hairs. 



Section b. Confeme. 

 Tubes or cells containing ovoid spores, furnished with 2-4 vibrating hairs. 



' Some authors have classed Sapro/cgiiia among Fuiir/i. 



