Potvcr of MurcDicnt in Plants. 189 



In naked or primordial cells, the protoplasm not being con- 

 fined by a cell-wall, was able to move of its own accord from one 

 place to another. This occurred in the group of Funrfi called 

 Mi/.mmi/cete.i. The author cited as an example j'Etlialiiim or 

 " iiowers of tan," an orange-coloured organism, growing in and 

 around tan-pits. It existed as a mass of protoplasm with no 

 cellulose wall, slimy or creamy in appearance, and made up of a 

 number of anastomosing net-like channels, along which a nearly 

 constant current of protoplasm slowly passed, carrying all kinds 

 of foreign bodies with it. Motion from place to place was 

 effected by the protoplasm projecting at its edge a number of 

 arm-like processes, into which the current flowed, thus increasing 

 their size, and in time the whole mass shifted its position. 

 Before fructification it had a tendency to climb erect objects like 

 trees or stumps, where at rest it formed capsules containing 

 spores, which later were set free as naked masses of protoplasm ; 

 these subsequently coalesced, three or four of them making a 

 fresh iilasmudium. They also were endowed with the power of 

 motion, using this power in order to coalesce. The protoplasm 

 or plasniucliiiin. of Didi/viiuin could travel nearly 0-4 inch in 

 a minute. A similar power existed in the ] rotoplasmic fila- 

 ments ejected from the glandular hairs on the leaves of the 

 common teasel, which absorbed nutriment from the bodies of 

 insects drowned in the water contained in the cups formed by 

 the ctaniate leaves. It was also seen in the leaves of the com- 

 pass-plant of the prairies. 



The motion of embryonic cells, or zoospores, and of anthero- 

 zoids, was accomplished by vibratile cilia, with which the 

 organisms were provided, and which occurred in two chief 

 varieties. In the first variety the zoospores of certain Algm, 

 like the red-snow plant, and of some Fuiuji, such as the potato 

 fungus, they consisted of embryonic cells, set free by rupture of 

 the parent cell, and were naked masses of protoplasm provided 

 with cilia, but destitute of any cell-wall during their motile 

 period. They moved with great rapidity, sometimes rotating on 

 their own axis, sometimes with a rolling motion, lashing the 

 water with one cilium, while the other trailed behind ; sometimes 

 fixing themselves by one cilium, and spinning round on it by 

 means of the other ; after a time they lost their cilia, developed 

 a cellulose coat, and gradually grew up to adult forms. The 

 second variety comprised the Antherozoids, or male elements of 

 reproduction formed within, and set free from the antlwndia of 

 some Alija, and also of Cluiracrcc, ferns, and other higher 

 Cryptogams ; they resembled zoospores in appearance and in 

 motile power. In both these cases the cilia were the agents of 

 motion, of which the causes were surmised to be analogous to 

 those of the rotation of protoplasm. 



