220 THE MICROSCOPE. 



through the spherical capsule into the cavity of the 

 nuclear utricle ; a mass of protoplasm makes its appearance, 

 and this divides up into monads, or, as I first called them, 

 ' gonidia.' 1 Further, should it hereafter be proved that 

 the rhizopodous cells are developments of Chara itself, 

 and not a foreign organism, it might not be found difficult 

 to trace a connexion between the so-called ' gonidia ' and 

 the ' spiral filaments.' Thus Chara, in some forms, 

 would then be an animal, and in others a vegetable, 

 according to the distinction between it and Amoeba, which 

 will presently be mentioned ; for the rhizopodous cells do 

 not produce the ' gonidia,' or monads, until they have 

 enclosed a portion of the cell-contents, after the man- 

 ner of Amoeba when taking its food. Again, I have 

 shown how the nucleus of the latter divides up into 

 granules and cells, producing new beings, and how it 

 becomes lost in the development of the ovules ; 2 and 

 -Stein has shown that the nucleus of Vorticella becomes 

 divided up into cells, to produce a new litter ; also, that 

 it shrinks into a small elliptical effete mass of fine granules 

 in the development of Acinette through the Acineta-form, 

 which I have frequently been able to confirm ; so that, if 

 the nucleus in A mosba and Vorticella be identical with that 

 of Chara, we shall probably not be far wrong in assigning 

 a generative power to it generally; that is, through dupli- 

 cation in common reproduction, and by multiple division 

 in the true process of generation. We must, therefore, if 

 we adopt these views, regard the nucleus of the globule as 

 merely a modification of that of the cells of Chara gene- 

 rally, to meet the requirements of the case ; and hence, as 

 a subordinate organ, which, together with the other parts 

 of the protoplasm, is subject to a common developmental 

 power. It has already been stated that the nucleus perishes 

 as soon as its functions cease, while the cell to which 

 it belonged goes on growing. Thus the internode of 

 the large Nitella of Bombay, which may be half a foot 

 long, loses its nucleus, probably, when, as a cell, it does 

 not exceed the one-hundredth part of an inch, for the 

 nucleus disappears long before the layer of green-cells is 

 formed. 



(1) Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist, vol.xvii. 1856. (2) Ibid. vol. xviii. 



