Mr. P. H. Gosse on a new British Zoophyte. 219 



niicropyle, and, though very rarely indeed, the fertilized germ- 

 corpnscle may also branch in the embryo-sac. Hence the 

 pollen-tube exerts a fertilizing influence, and does not, as 1 

 formerly assumed, directly produce the germ, for the first cell of 

 the germ does not originate in its interior ; on the contrary, its 

 influence causes a granular protoplasmic mass existing in the 

 embryo-sac before fertilization to produce that cell from which 

 both the embryo and its suspensor proceed. Those filaments 

 {fertilization-filaments), of which the apices of the germinal cor- 

 puscles consist, and which I always found destitute of any power 

 of motion, are quite essential to the act of fertilization, but they 

 do not appear to take any direct part in the formation of the 

 first cell of the germ.^' (Pp. H, 12.) 



As to these * fiiainents ' I cannot say anything at present ; 

 they occur in the situation of the ' coagula ' which I have de- 

 scribed and figured in my memoir, and Schacht's drawings are 

 not very unlike what I have seen, except that I did not detect 

 any filamentous structure ; and moreover, I do not think they 

 j)roject freely from the embryo-sac, although I have described 

 them as occupying the absolute summit and exhibiting a kind 

 of notch between them, 



I must not conclude this brief notice without offeiing my 

 testimony to the value of Tulasne^s recent researches on this 

 subject*. Although he has missed the most essential point, 

 his observations are of exceeding value as contributions to our 

 knowledge of the history of the embryo-sac and the earlier stages 

 of growth of embryos. 



London, July 30th, 1856. 



XX. — On Edwardsia carnea, a new British Zoophyte. 

 By Philip II. Gosse, F.R.S. 



[With a Plate.] 



Sp. Char. Mouth conical ; tentacles above twenty-four, in 

 three rows ; epidermis subpolygonal, coriaceous, rough, brown ; 

 anterior column and posterior bulb pellucid, carneous, marked 

 with white. 



Description. — Length |ths of an inch, of which the anterior 

 column is ith of an inch ; diameter of body pg^th ; expanse of 

 tentacles y^jjth of an inch. 



i3ody enclosed in a tubular epidermis, from which the anterior 

 and po.sterior extremities protrude at will (Pl. IX. fig. 1). This 



* Ann. «k'S Sc. Nat., Bolauiciuc, 4"^^ Sit. iv. p. (io. 



