102 HICKS, ON VEGETABLE AMCEBOID BODIES. 



Avliich^ almost like a ' dissolving view/ takes place in the pro- 

 toplasm and clilorophyll of ChlamydocoecuSj Eudorina, and in 

 that of the cells of the algse generally^, during which these 

 pass from their original form into that of a rhizopod, without 

 inferring that the form produced is nearly another one of that 

 which preceded it^ and no absolute cliange. Hence my des- 

 cription of the fancied passage of the vegetable protoplasm 

 into Actinophrys."^ 



"For the future I Avoidd regard all those apparent trans- 

 formations of the protoplasm, the development of a parasitic 

 genus previously existing in it (where not obviously intro- 

 duced) which, under favourable circumstances — that is, where 

 the specific vitality of the cell begins to ebb — assimilate its 

 protoplasm, &c., to its own form /^ . . , . '^t is diffi- 

 cult to realise the nature of these changes at first_, as before 

 stated ; they are inappreciable, but such I am now persuaded 

 is the way in which they must be explained/^* 



Thus it will be noticed that the frequency of the occur- 

 rence is admitted, and these facts of mine, now shown, extend 

 the phenomena to the mosses. Whatever may be the real 

 nature of the case, with the occurrence of Acetina upon Yorti- 

 cella, and Avhatever may be the true explanation as to the 

 origin of the Actinoplirys from vegetable protaplasm, I cannot 

 discover any arguments brought forward which invalidate the 

 supposition that vegetable protoplasm may become amoeboid 

 under certain conditions. In the above quotation, it is con- 

 fessed that the appearances are so unbroken, that it is diffi- 

 cult to realise the author's new explanation ; " they are 

 inappreciable/^ But this seems a powerful argument in 

 favour of this observer's original explanation ; and the case 

 of the Acetina is not, or need not be, a parallel one. That, 

 at least in the instances I have brought forward above, there 

 seem to be many facts which decidedly militate against the 

 parasitic explanation. 



1st. The change seems to occur in all parts of the mass 

 simultaiieously. In the drawing accompanying my first notice 

 of its existence in Volvox,* it will be seen that the whole mass 

 of the zoospore in the first change is precisely like its original 

 state, losing only its colour. Kow had the zoospore been 

 invaded by the germ of an Amoeba, it surely would have ap- 

 peared at first in a definite spot, and not diffused itself equally 

 throughout the whole mass, without being recognised in some 

 way. If it be argued otherwise, then another dilemma ap- 

 pears — how, if the germ and vegetable protoplasm be so much 

 alike, by what means can they at all be distinguished, so as 



* Op. cit., Supra. 



t See 'Mic. Trans.,' April, 1860. ; 



