88 Dr. F. Colin on the Development and Propngation 



the chambers scparatid, and the whok' contents were broken np 

 into a hn'ge number of free (jlohnlar ninsscs, which were sharply 

 defined, eoniposed ehietly oi' colourless mucilage, and enclosed 

 in their centre an irregularly diifus<^'d, mostly laterally situated 

 heap of chlorophyll. These masses, the young spores, then ])as8 

 uninterru|)tcdly through the most wonderful changes ; at first 

 they are in contact, and thus forin by their adjacent boundaries 

 the plasmic septa, which arc consecpiently double; their sub- 

 sUmce becoming somewhat contracted, the two layers of these 

 septa separate, the spores thereby becoming isolated ; the chlo- 

 rophyll in their interior is constantly changing its mode of dis- 

 tribution ; the colourless mucilaginous envelope at one time con- 

 tracts strongly, so that free, regular globules are produced ; at 

 another it expands again, so that they are flattened against their 

 neighbours ; or sometimes one becomes elongated laterally, and 

 if a drawing is begun to be made, its shape has entirely altered 

 before the sketch is completed. Finally, the nascent spores 

 become rounded-off into smooth spheres, which however are 

 still far larger than in the mature condition, and are not com- 

 pletely filled with chlorophyll. But the latter becomes diffused 

 gradually more regularly in the spore-globe, while the colour- 

 less plasma is ])rogressively more elaborated and excreted ; 

 consequently the spore is constantly becoming more condensed 

 and diminished in size, and finally becomes a regular sphere 

 composed entirely of a granular green substance, enclosing a few 

 starch-granules, bounded cxtenially by a smooth, clearly-defined 

 layer of plasma; there is no cellulose membrane, the green 

 structure is very soft, elastic, and under pressure passes away 

 into mucus ; it is to be regarded as a ' primordial cell.' 



Long before the contents of tlie cells of Sphuroplea have be- 

 come converted into young spores, peculiar changes have com- 

 menced in the membrane of their cells; it begins to change into 

 amyloid, and therefore is now coloured purple-red or violet by 

 iodine alone, without sulphuric acid. Evidently this is the 

 commencement of the chemical metamorphosis of this mem- 

 brane, which terminates in its total solution and sets free the ripe 

 spores. At particular points of the membrane small holes are 

 formed ji^j to j— of a line in diameter ; I have counted from 

 two to six of these orifices in each cell ; the holes are more easily 

 observed, as colourless spots, when the cell is coloured blue by 

 8ulphui-ic acid and iodine. 



This course (jf development, by which they are transformed 

 into sporangia with numeixfus spores, does not occur in all the 

 cells of a filament of Spha'roplea ; during the same epoch totally 

 different processes are completed in a large portion of the cells. 

 Here the green rings between the colourless vacuoles have gra- 



