SPERM ATOZOIDS. 



[ 701 ] 



SPH^RIA. 



Qn. Mic. Jn, 1871; St. George, Strieker's 

 Hist. ii. 141, and the Bill. ; Klein, Hist. ; 

 Einer, Phys. Med. Ges. Wiirtaburg, vi. 93 ; 

 Johnston, M. Mic. Jn. xvi. 61 (Amphittmo). 



SPERMATOZO'IDS, or ANTHERO- 

 ZO'IDS. The terms applied to the struc- 

 tures produced in the antheridia of the 

 Cryptogarnia, regarded as analogous to the 

 spermatozoa of animals, and as the agents of 

 fertilization of the germ-cell. In the Mar- 

 sileacese, Lycopodiaceae, Equisetaceae, Ferns 

 (PI. 40. fig. 34), Mosses (fig. 33), Hepaticaa 

 (fig. 32), and 'Characece (tig. 31), they are 

 ciliated spirally-coiled filaments, exhibiting 

 very active spontaneous motion. In the 

 Fucoid Algae, they are globular cells bearing 

 two unequal cilia moving actively. In the 

 Florideae they are minute globular cells (PL 

 4. fig. 12 a), and neither cilia nor movement 

 have been demonstrated. In the Lichens 

 and Fungi the spermatia (PL 26. fig. 4; PL 

 27. fig. 23; PL 37. fig. 15) appear to represent 

 the spermatozoids of the other classes, and 

 they seem to be devoid of spontaneous move- 

 ment. The details respecting these bodies 

 are given under their respective classes. 



BIBL. Thuret, Ann. Sc. Nat 3. xiv. 214, 

 and xvi. 5 ; Schacht, Sperm, im Pflanz. 

 1864, & Qu. Mic. Jn. 1805. 



SPERMOGO'NIA. The supposed an- 

 tlieridial structures of LICHENS (PL 37. 

 figs. 2, 13, 15) and FUNGI (PL 26. figs. 1 

 and 4). 



SPERMOSI'RA, Kiitzing. A genus of 

 Nostochaceae, growing in salt marshes, 

 containing two British species ; known 

 from the other genera by the disk-shaped 

 or lenticular cells; but the filaments are 

 liable to be mistaken for a Nostoc in the 

 young state. 



Spermosira litorea, Kiitz. (PL 3. fig. 20). 

 Filaments 1-3600" thick, straight] sh, aeru- 

 ginous ; ordirary cells confluent, very short ; 

 sporan<?ial cells at first green, depressed- 

 spheroidal, 1-3000" in diameter, granular, 

 fuscous when mature ; vesicular cells trans- 

 versely elliptical, not wider than the ordinary 

 cells. " In muddy brackish ditches. 



S. Harveyana, Thwaites. Filaments 

 much curved ; cells nearly as long as broad ; 

 sporangial cells exactly spherical, almost 

 twice the diameter of "the ordinary cells ; 

 vesicular cells subquadrate, rather longer 

 than wide, about as wide as the ordinary 

 cells. In muddy brackish ditches. 



BIBL. Harvey, Brit. Alaer, 233, and Phyc. 

 Brit. ; Kiitzing, Tab. Phyc. i. ; Rabenhorst, 

 Alfj. ii. 185. 



SPHACELA'RIA, Lyngb. A genus of 

 Ectocarpaceae (Fucoid Algae), containing a 

 number of species, two of which, S. scoparia 

 and & cirrhosa, are common. They have 

 jointed,rigid, distichously branched, feathery 

 filamentous fronds, of an olive colour, a few 

 inches high, and are especially characterized 

 by the sphacelfs formed at the ends of the 

 branches. They multiply by zoospores pro- 

 duced iminilocular or plurilocular sporangia. 

 The propagula are produced on the lateral 

 branches, and are connected by a cell which 

 may produce several of them. Each con- 

 sists of a pedicel of three rays and of a 

 multicellular pair. The rays and pedicel 

 produce when they come into contact with 

 those of another Alga, short shields like a 

 prothallus, of which the peripheral cells 

 may produce new plants. 



BJBL. Harvey, Mar. Alg. 55; Janczewski, 

 Mem. Soc. Nat. de Cferbourff, xvi. 337. 



SPK/E'RIA, Hall. A genus of Pyreno- 

 mycetes (Ascomycetous Fungi), now some- 

 what reduced from its ancient limits, but 

 still containing a vast number of species, 

 which it is impossible to treat satisfactorily 

 within our limits. The forms vary chiefly 

 in regard to the perithecia, which are some- 

 times only covered by a veil, and hence 

 appear superficial on the matrix, while in 

 other cases they are imbedded in the matrix 



Fig. 646. 





Bphaeria quaternafau 



Three groups growing on a piece of beech wood. 

 Magnified 20 diameters. 



(PL 26. fig. 25), only evident externally by 

 the black papilla, which is permanent, 

 becoming indurated, and opening by a pore 

 to discharge the spores in a fine powder. 

 Many of the immersed kinds are only evi- 

 dent externally as minute black points or 

 dots upon the surface of the leaf, stem, &c. 

 which they infest ; others are exposed freely 

 when mature, breaking out from beneath the 

 epidermis. Sometimes they are solitary, 

 sometimes associated in small or large 

 numbers, distinct or confluent. S. quaternata 

 (fig. 646) is an example of the occurrence 

 of free perithecia grouped together, mostly 

 in fours; being decumbent, their ostioles 

 are collected together, and they perforate 

 the bark by a little black rugged tubercle. 



