86 PICTURING MIRACLES 



In nature the filaments sink to the bottom during 

 the night and when the sun shines on them in the 

 morning oxygen is manufactured, lifting the mass 

 to the surface. 



The top of the mass may be yellowish, green un- 

 derneath and has a slimy feeling to the hand. In the 

 spring of the year when in the conjugating stage, 

 two filaments side by side and of the male and 

 female sex, tiny connecting tubes grow from one cell 

 to another. When they touch there is no opening 

 between the connecting tubes, but they adhere to 

 each other. Then the male gamete begins to round up 

 and gathers into a mass near the connecting tube. 

 Parts of the mass move forward and with a battering 

 movement break down the partition wall. Sometimes 

 this is accomplished by tiny particles bombarding 

 the wall. This movement would not be noticeable to 

 the unaided eye, but with a lapse-time motion cam- 

 era taking pictures at a few seconds' intervals, pro- 

 jecting the pictures at their normal speed shows this 

 battering movement very plainly. Finally the two 

 ends of the connecting tubes being broken down, 

 the entire gamete, the whole contents of the male 

 cell, including the nucleus and protoplasm, pass over 

 with a more or less intermittent movement. This 

 combined mass takes about ten minutes to pass over, 

 mingling with the gamete in the female cell. The 



