POLLENIZATION 87 



picture recorded by the microscope and lapse-time 

 camera, looks as though it were that of a boiling mass 

 as it gradually rounds up into a compact round or 

 oval-shaped spore referred to as a spore in effect a 

 fertile seed. The visible action continues some five 

 hours, gradually slowing down to its resting period. 

 The male filament, now empty, disintegrates, while 

 the cell walls of the female, one containing a fertile 

 spore in each cell, seem to increase in strength, pos- 

 sibly protecting it during its resting period. 



Just how long that spore must rest before it ger- 

 minates into a new plant I do not know. I have 

 watched them for weeks under the microscope trying 

 to picture that link in their life story. I have found 

 them in the dried mud but have not yet been able 

 to picture it, completing the life cycle in that most 

 beautifully interesting plant. It has taken four years 

 to do what I have with it, and a week may complete 

 the story, which is one reason the work is so fasci- 

 nating, giving such an element of desire to succeed. 



The Longatta Spirogyra has alternate cells in the 

 same filament, male and female, so the union of the 

 gametes takes place through a swelling in the cell 

 wall at the partition. Both forms are easy to witness 

 if you have patience enough. My method is to fasten 

 with paraffin a glass ring on the slide, stand it on 

 edge, put in two drops of water, then paint the edge 



