432 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Develojjment o/" Sorastrum, 



tank belonged to the Protococcace^e rather than to the Des- 

 midiacese. 



The peculiarity in this Protococcus was, that it presented a 

 conical elongation of, or appendix to, its cell, comet-like, not 

 only in its single form, but throughout all its subdivisions — a 

 feature which I had not previously seen, and which, as it does 

 not appear to have been recorded by others, seems deserving 

 of the accompanying delineations (PI. XIV. figs. 10-20) and 

 of being described under the following aj)pellation : — 



Conococcus elongatuSj mihi. 



Passive form unicellular, with the usual green contents and 

 nuclear (?) vesicle of such organisms enclosed in a spherical cell, 

 to which is appended a transparent conical extension or appendix 

 three times the diameter of the cell in length. Conical exten- 

 sion persistent in all the individuals of its various subdivisions. 

 Size of single largest cell 4-5600ths of an inch in diameter. 



Hob. Fresh water. 



Loc, Tanks in the Island of Bombay. 



Ohs. Sometimes, as in fig. 18, the gonimic contents of the cell 

 are partially extended into the conical appendix ; or they may 

 be extended throughout that of one individual only (fig. 19); 

 or they may be extended tliroughout the whole in the eight-cell 

 division or group, as in fig, 20. Hence the appendix here is 

 actually an " extension " of the cell-wall. 



This is the form which I have figured and to wliich I have 

 alluded in the 'Annals' of April last (1869), pi. 17. fig. 21. 

 I have never seen it in its active state, and am still inclined 

 to think that it may be but a sportive form of the '^ GhJamy do- 

 coccus " represented in the ' Annals ' of 1858, vol. ii. pi, 8, 

 which is the common or usual figure of this unicellular Alga 

 in the tanks of Bombay. 



Postscript. 



Since the above was written, the question of fissiparity in 

 Sorastrum seems to be determined in the affirmative ; for on 

 the 30th October a group of eight robust individuals was ob- 

 served, in which one was much larger than the rest and almost 

 splierical in shape, simulating the roundness and appearance 

 of a sporangium ; but, on evacuation of its green contents, the 

 cell-wall was found to present four pairs of spines, situated, 

 apparently, opposite to, and equidistant from, each otlier, thus 

 indicating the preparatory stage to fissiparition or binary 

 division. It is right, however, to add that only seven spines 

 were actually visible, and that the unseen one of the fourth 



