138 Atnerica/i Quarterly Microscopical Journal. 



terior quite dark. Ten hours from the filament these granules 

 gradually unite to form larger particles, varying greatly in 

 size, and grouping themselves in the center (PI. VI., Fig. 7), 

 leave the surrounding medium clear from granules, but of a 

 dark, brownish-yellow color. A second cell-wall bounding 

 the whole contents of the oogonium and separating it from 

 the filaments, yet distinct from the outer wall, is now present. 

 It has an irregular contour, sometimes meeting and occasion- 

 ally passing through the outer membrane, again being very 

 markedly separated from it. This was the condition at 38 

 hours from the filament; in twelve hours more the central mass 

 of globules and granules segregated into a number of spheri- 

 cal portions with irregular boundaries, resulting from the va- 

 rying size of the globules and absence of a surrounding mem- 

 brane. 



Before proceeding with a further description of this organ 

 it is necessary to go back and trace the development of 

 the male portion. At ten hours from the appearance of the 

 oogonium, when it approaches a spherical form, yet being only 

 about two-thirds its final diameter, and when the protoplasm 

 is rendered nearly opaque from the density of the granules, 

 there appears from one, or more generally two places on the 

 pedicel of the female organ, a small branch which has an up- 

 ward tendency, and in twenty-five hours has its upper — now 

 bulbous — portion closely applied to the surface of the oogo- 

 nium. Up to this stage it is quite clear, but now granules 

 aggregate in the upper portion, at the same time increasing 

 much in size; and about the time that segregation in the oogo- 

 nium takes place, becomes separated from the narrower por- 

 tion by a diaphragm, thus forming an oval or oblong cell, 

 the antheridium. The exact time required for further devel- 

 opment of these parts I am unable to give, as observations had 

 to be made on different specimens. 



Soon after the division has been formed, small Hagellate 

 bodies, the spermatozoids, are produced; at the same time the 

 antheridium sends out a small tube, which piercing the mem- 

 brane of the oogonium, passes in to meet the gonospheres 

 (PI. VI., Fig. 3): its ofiice being to conduct the spermatozoids to 

 the bodies requiring fertilization. I saw this tube in a single 

 instance, and doubt its presence as a rule; for excepting the 

 specimens from which Fig. 3 was made, the nearest ap- 



