492 H. MAKSHALL WARD. 



the hour namefl, the contents of the oogonium were coarsely 

 granular, and marked by many small oily particles, giving the 

 whole a yellowish-grey appearance. At 8.15 these contents 

 were beginning to contract towards the centre of the oogonium, 

 strings and bands of protoplasm being left attached to the 

 inner wall. This contraction occurred slowly, but was dis- 

 tinctly attended with amoeboid movements. During the next 

 three quarters of an hour this withdrawal of the coarsely 

 granular fatty protoplasm slowly continued, and at 9 a.m. 

 the condition of affairs was that figured at fig. 10, b. The 

 beak-like process (which had already commenced to be formed 

 in a), sent by the antheridium through the oogonium 

 wall, now became more distinctly evident; the protoplasm 

 inside the antheridium also seemed to me to have become 

 paler and more transparent. 



The protoplasm of the oogonium was still anchored by 

 radiating threads to the walls, and seemed to contain fatty 

 globules ; its slow amoeboid movements still continued. These 

 movements became still more decided during the next hour; 

 and at 10 o'clock (fig. 10, c) the central mass of the oogo- 

 nium had become almost spherical and free from the walls. 

 Its fatty and granular contents were also arranged into rather 

 angular blocks, formed by the gradual flowing together of the 

 smaller globules and granules. In this condition the naked mass 

 may be looked upon as an egc^, or oosphere, ready for fertili- 

 sation ; for, although the tube from the antheridium extended 

 right through to the mass in question, I could at this time 

 detect no passage of substance through it. The brilliant, refrac- 

 tive granules in the body of the antheridium were observed 

 to be distinctly undergoing slow changes of position, however, 

 and the amoeboid movements of the oosphere were carrying 

 it round the inside of the oogonium. That this was a 

 period of activity, or excitement, so to speak, preceding the 

 passage of the contents of the antheridium through the 

 tube into the oosphere, was amply demonstrated by what 

 followed. Another point, which became clearer afterwards, 

 was noticed : the oosphere did not comprise the whole of the 



