422 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Development o/" Sorastrum, 



Finding that I had an abundance of this organism produced 

 in the way above mentioned, I continued to examine several 

 of them daily, limiting myself to six dips of the the dip-tube 

 jyer dieviy and on the 10th and 11th of September saw, for the 

 first time, a small group attached to a large one, in one dip, 

 and in the contents of another dip an isolated individual of a 

 large group with the spines on one side much retracted, and 

 on the other side almost entirely obsolete. 



Both these phenomena combined were again 25resented to 

 me in the afternoon of the 17th of September; and I then 

 succeeded in transferring the gi'oup and its now two young 

 ones (baby groups) to a cell depression in a glass slide filled 

 with water, over Avhich a cover was placed for protection 

 and to prevent evaporation. (I prefer the term "baby" to 

 " daughter groups," because it will be seen hereafter that some 

 of these groups might be spermatic elements — microgonidia.) 

 About 7 P. M. of the same evening it was observed that two 

 more groups had been produced, and on the morning of the 

 following day (that is, on the 18th Sept.) that another group 

 had been eliminated during the night, making, in all, five 

 young groups, four of which were respectively enclosed in 

 delicate spherical transparent capsules, all of them, no doubt, 

 provided by the parent cell or individual. (PL XIV. fig. 6.) 



Here the development of the baby groups appeared to cease ; 

 and on the 19th Sept. the whole was placed on the flat surface 

 of a glass slide, for compression and final examination, Avhen 

 several empty individuals came into view, and the individuals 

 of the parent group which still retained their gonimic contents 

 were observed to have become much rounded, and to have 

 their spines more or less atrophied. 



After this, many instances of large groups were seen with 

 baby groups about them, and one in particular in Avhich a 16- 

 division group of empty individuals was accompanied by from 

 eight to ten baby groups, all in delicate capsides. 



While this was going on, a dark sea-green sporangium, 

 13-6000ths of an inch in diameter, with gelatinous envelope, 

 began to appear, viz. on the 6th Sept., and after this was fre- 

 quently observed, which sporangium Avas so like in colour and 

 contents to Sorastrum sptnulostwi, and so different from every 

 other kind of sporangium in the gum-bottle, tliat I had little 

 doubt that it was tlic impregnated s])orangium of our Soras- 

 trum. But, as this identity will come out better by the de- 

 scriptive detail of this development in the summary of my 

 observations which folloAvs, I will add no more here than that 

 the presence of this spore seemed to terminate, for this year, 

 ill! that I was likely to see in the dcvclopnionf of tliis little 



