76 JOURNAL OF THE [july, 



with a cellulose membrane — in fact it has become a globular 

 cell. Tf now excused further change it pushes out a tubule, 

 which elongates by growth. This is its germination, and this 

 tubule becomes a hypha, the beginning of a new thallus or 

 plant. 



We said if excused further development ; for in some, even at 

 this stage of being, a spherical cell, it is denied the privilege of 

 germinating. The cell will crack open, the protoplasm emerge, 

 a lentil form be taken on ; in a word, it becomes a swarm-spore 

 a second time ere it becomes a germinating spore. 



This may be seen in Fig. i, plate 23. Here the spores are 

 invested with a membrane ; they are cells of granular protoplasm. 

 But they are bursting through the sides of the mother-cell, in- 

 stead of at the tip, and curiously they leave their shells behind 

 them — actually entering their aquatic world in an amoeboid 

 condition. This seemingly anomalous thing is a Dictyuchus, an- 

 other genus of these Saprolegnice. A curious feature in this spor- 

 angium is the pressure of subsidiary mother-cells, for it is cut 

 up into small sections. 



With the exception of the species just described I think all 

 were the common Saprolegnia ferox. But the eccentricities or 

 diversities of growth were many and striking. 



I found myself greatly interested in a peculiar exhibition of 

 the phenomenon of cyclosis, or circulation in these filament 

 cells of Saprolegnia. In the early stages of the granulating of 

 the protoplasm in a cell destined to be a sporangium, I observed 

 the circulation, or movement of the particles of the granulating 

 protoplasm. The movement was very lively, but not that stately 



Description of Plate !23. 



1, A compound sporangium of Dictyiichus one of the Saprolegnia'. One of the 

 spores is breaking through the side, which is the only way to gain emission, for 

 there are several septte, making approach to the apex impossible, nor is the rpex 

 of a suitable form for such a mode of escape. It was evident in the original, and 

 is indicated in the drawing, that the swarm-spores were already invested each 

 with a shell, which it left behind in the mother-cell or capsule, and entered the 

 swarm state in an amceboid condition. 



The figures in this plate were drawn from specimens mounted in glycerine, and 

 the effect has been to contract the protoplasm, thus making it leave the cell walls. The 

 object of the drawing is to show the variability, even eccentricity of forms, and the 

 figures are numbered simply for convenience of reference. The magnification is about 

 500 diameters. 



