HICKS; ox VEGETABLE AMffiBOID BODIES. 99 



We are now in a position to examine the nature of some 

 bodies I have seen in A^olvox, and Avhich I have drawn at fig. 

 4. In outer appearance they are "precisely alike^ and covered 

 Avith cilifC; and in constant vibration. Thej^ occur in smaller 

 or greater groiips, which are enclosed in a cavity formed of the 

 mucous layer just underneath the transparent sphere. 



Taking the change shown at fig. 3 in the segmenting cell, 

 and that shown at fig. 2, it seems highly probable that the 

 segmentations of the zoospore have become amoeboid; and 

 further, comparing them with the facts I have pointed out in 

 the moss-radicles, it seems equally probable that these have 

 become ciliated, and are homologous. That they Avere de- 

 rived in some manner from a zoospore seems clear from the 

 vacant space immediately above it, as was noticed in the case 

 of the amoeboid bodies. 



What the ultimate destination of these ciliated bodies may 

 be, can scarcely be conjectured ; the subject is attended with 

 much difficulty in watching throughout. However, I found 

 the change from the amoeboid to the ciliated stage in the 

 moss-roots was rapid, taking place Avithin two hours. It 

 might at first sight be conjectured that the collection of 

 cndoplast into ovoid masses, and then their becoming colour- 

 less, was an unhealthy process. It has been observed in the 

 algae, and is no doubt in them, as in the moss-roots, one of 

 tlis many conditions vegetable protoplasm has the property 

 of assuming, in order to perpetuate the species under varying 

 influences ; and Ave are by no means necessarily to conclude 

 that it is a sign of decay, as considered by some. We are, it 

 seems more evident every day, so incompletely informed as 

 to all the means of the preservation of life in the loAver orders, 

 through all the varied external conditions of damp and drought, 

 heat and cold, with their numberless transitions, that we 

 should gain much more by foUoAving out the changes they 

 produce, than by attempting to make them definite. One 

 can scarcely understand that a process which Avent so far as 

 to form a ciliated body could be an ininatural or an unhealthy 

 one. It therefore seems highly probable that it is one of the 

 modes by which a portion of living protoplasm is enabled to 

 retain life under certain conditions. That the removal of 

 the colouring matter is not by any means to be considered a 

 sign of impending dissolution, but a physiological state, is to 

 be inferred from the observations of Cohn in Pi'otococcus plu- 

 vialis and of others;'^ and therefore the changes above 

 described may reasonably be considered as healthy vital 

 actions. 



* ' Botauical aud Physiological Memoii-s/ Ray Society, 1853. 



