HICKf?, ON VEGETABLE AMCEBOID BODIES. 103 



to prove tlie essential poiut of the discussion, namely, that 

 there are in the mass two separate organisms combined '^ 



2. The change takes i)hice in those wliich are or have been 

 segmenting-. The parasitic explanation, therefore^ requires 

 that a germ should have been enclosed in each segment. 



3. In the case of the gonidia of mosses (fig. 11, d, e,f), it 

 seems very unlikely that the germ should have been enclosed 

 within the moss, when it surrounds it by a thin layer all 

 over. 



4. The subsequent fixed oval form and ciliated condition 

 above noticed, has not been, I believe, yet noticed in the true 

 Amoebce. 



5. Besides these points, the power of motion in vegetable 

 protoplasm is not unknown to us; as, for instance, in the 

 eilia3 of zoospores. 



6. The want of proof of the " obvious introduction of pai'a- 

 sitic germs from witliout,^^ and the improbability of their 

 having been previously existing in the mass of the protoplasm 

 of the roots of the mosses. 



7. I have shown already, in my former paper, that the 

 unchanged cell has a distinct power of movement as an 

 Amoeba, and that in cells of the yet incomplete gemmule of 

 Volvox, which, being detached from its fellows, extruded and 

 retracted portions of itself, moving about by that power. 



It is for these reasons that I think we are justified in ex- 

 cluding the parasitic hypothesis, and in concluding that the 

 vegetable protoplasm does become directly an amoeboid bod3^ 



To whatever forms or states these ciliated bodies may ulti- 

 mately tend, there is an important point still to be deter- 

 mined with regard to the amoeboid form ; namely, do they 

 include Vvithin themselves, and then dissolve, foreign organic 

 bodies? In other words, do they "eat?" The value of any 

 direct observations in this respect need not be enlarged upoii 

 here, when it is remembered that upon this peculiar power 

 the true Amoeba3 take their rank in the animal kingdom. I have 

 not hitherto had an opportunity of observing these bodies in 

 a free position, in which their origin was unquestionable, and 

 under external conditions perfectly compatible with active 

 vitality. It is probable that the Volvox would aflford the 

 most convenient opportunities for watching. 



The circumstances under which the moss-roots should be 

 placed to show these phenomena is to float any common moss 

 on a glass of water in the shade; and wdien the radicles 

 they push out are of considerable length, they may be re- 

 moved to the slide, and examined. Most specimens, where 

 not too much exposed to the light and heat, wull afford many 

 instances of the above. 



