THE AMERICAN 



MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



Vol. I. 



IS^EW York, February, 1880. 



No. 2. 



Fallacious appearances among 

 the Fresh-water Algae. 



III. Fresli- water Algse are often 

 the subjects of peculiar transforma- 

 tions in tJieir life-history, both 

 before and after they have attained 

 maturity. A knowledge of a few 

 of these may help the novice to 

 bridge over some of the difficulties 

 he meets with in his studies. There 



are several very common plants 

 found about the outlets of springs, 

 in trenches and small ponds, belong- 

 ing to the genus Conferva, Link., 

 including also forms which Thuret 

 needlessly separated as Microsjpora, 

 in consideration of the greater 

 abundance of microspores found in 

 the cells of the iilaments. There 

 is a number of species belonging 

 to this genus ; they differ in the 



||I!iililIIiji||jlJl!ii3^ 



thickness of the iilaments and the 

 proportionate length of the cells. 

 I shall notice the fallacies incident 

 to four of them. 



In Fig. 5, A represents the nor- 

 mal condition of Conferva floccosa, 

 Ag. Diameter of filaments measures 



.0005"-.0006"(12.7/"-15.2-"); length 

 of articulations 1 — 2 diameters. 

 Fruiting cells {F) are often swollen 

 in the middle. The microspores 

 may be occasionally seen escaping 

 through an aperture in the side of 

 a cell. The more singular tranK- 



