74 JOURNAL OF THE [july 



It was a very interesting sight when I saw for the first time 

 this emission of the sporidia from the sporangium or mother- 

 cell. All kinds of similitudes came to mind, from that of bees 

 swarming, to the letting out of an unruly rural school. Like 

 the latter, it was a quasi jail delivery. It is a real liberation of 

 the sporules. The disquietude begins at the back seats, or 

 dropping figures at the bottom of the capsule, or sporangium. 

 The commotion thence ascends until those at top are affected, 

 when at the small opening these motile spores rush out in a 

 swarm and sail dispersedly away. I noticed a few, maybe six, 

 remaining in the evacuated capsule. They seemed uneasy. 

 The opening at the top of the sporangium had closed. Though 

 showing movement, they had lost the momentarily given im- 

 pulse which enabled the others to squeeze through, and " get 

 out." It was the old adage of "time and tide " over again, for 

 they were " kep' in." 



Here I will quote Hines' description : "Just before escaping 

 the zoospores at the base always take on an oscillating motion, 

 which passes to the zoospores next above, and so on to the 

 summit, causing such a pressure that in less than a minute the 

 power is such as to cause a rupturing of the sporangium, which 

 in normal conditions always takes place at the summit. The 

 zoospores now pass out at first very rapidly, so that it is im- 

 possible to count them, but when about one-half out they be- 

 come more quiet, seldom losing their motion, however, until all 

 have passed from the sac. In passing out they are very much 

 constricted, so that if any lose their power of motion before 

 they have escaped, it is impossible for them to pass out. Having 

 passed from the sporangium, which was emptied in one minute, 

 they swarmed around very lively for nearly four minutes, at the 

 end of which time they settled down, lost their cilia, and be- 

 came spherical. At the end of one hour and thirty minutes, 

 they had germinated." 



The process of liberating the spores in this species of 

 Saprolegnia is much simpler than in those species known as 

 Achyla. In these the emitted spores gather at the tip of the spor- 

 angium, or place of emission, in a globular cluster-swarm. 

 They are seemingly naked bodies held together by their own 

 cohesion ; but now each spore is suddenly invested with a mem- 



