308 



MICROSCOPIC FORMS OF VEGETABLE LIFE. 



FIG. 103. 



second is the condition of the genus Palmella; of which one spe- 

 cies, the P. cruenta, usually known under the name of " gory 

 dew," is common on damp walls and shady places, sometimes 

 extending itself over a considerable area as a tough gelatinous 

 mass, of the color and general appearance of coagulated blood. 

 A characteristic illustration of it is also aiforded by the Hcemato- 

 coccus sanguineus (Fig. 103), which chiefly differs from Palmella 



in the partial persist- 

 ence of the walls of the 

 parent cells, so that the 

 whole mass is subdi- 

 vided by partitions, 

 which enclose a larger 

 or smaller number of 

 cells originating in the 

 subdivision of their 

 contents. Besides in- 

 creasing in the ordi- 

 nary mode of binary 

 multiplication, the Pal- 

 mella cells seem occa- 

 sionally to rupture and 

 diffuse their granular 

 contents through the 

 gelatinous stratum, 



Hcematococcus sanguineus, in various stages of development: i fU 11(a + ~ O^TTO nTnrrin 



a, single cells, enclosed in their mucous envelope ; 6, c, clusters a 



formed by subdivision of parent cell; d, more numerous cluster, to a Wnole Cluster at 

 its component cells in various stages of division; e, large mass of Qj^gg as 86611 at after 



, ,-, ' , 



simple Plants to be 

 presently described ( 195), save that these minute segments of 

 the endochrome, having no power of spontaneous motion, can- 

 not be ranked as Zoospores. The gelatinous masses of the Pal- 

 rnellese are frequently found to contain parasitic growths, formed 

 by the extension of other plants through their substance ; but 

 numerous branched filaments sometimes present themselves, 

 which, being traceable into absolute continuity with the cells, 

 must be considered as properly appertaining to them. Some- 

 times these filaments radiate in various directions from a single 

 central cell, and must at first be considered as mere extensions 

 of this; their extremities dilate, however, into new cells; and, 

 when these are fully formed, the tubular connections close up, 

 and the cells become detached from each other. 1 This is ob- 

 viously an additional mode of increase by gemmation; analogous 

 to that which we shall meet with among the Confervacece ( 198). 



1 Although the Authors of the " Micrograph ic Dictionary" throw doubt upon this fact. 

 yet the writer, having had the opportunity of verifying the observations of that inoi-t 



young cells, formed by the continuance of the same process, and 

 enclosed within a common mucous envelope. 



accurate Algologist, Mr. Thwaites, can entertain no doubt of their correctness. 

 Ann. of Nat. Hist." N. S. vol. ii, p. 313.) 



(See 



