408 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



and on examination at intervals, many changes were 

 observed which it is unnecessary now to particularize. 

 At the expiration of five weeks the filament was 

 found to have become rather suddenly decolourized 

 with the exception of a few patches of green here and 

 there, in which the chlorophyll corpuscles were still 

 regularly disposed 1 . Within the filament myriads of 

 small colourless Actinophrys-like bodies were seen, and 

 a careful examination of some of the patches of chloro- 

 phyll corpuscles revealed all intermediate stages between 

 individual corpuscles and the colourless stellate animal 

 bodies. The different stages were seen in hundreds of 

 corpuscles lying side by side in such a way as to make 

 the order of change just as obvious as if the same 

 corpuscles had been watched through the several stages. 

 The corpuscles in the patches were generally of a 

 decidedly paler green colour than natural, though others 

 which were about to undergo the animal metamorphosis 

 had become of a brighter and darker green than natural, 

 and soon began to exhibit a slightly granular condition 

 of their contents (Fig. 81, ). At the same time these 

 dark green corpuscles seemed to have increased some- 

 what in size. They moreover continued to become 

 larger till they were from YtW" to ^-^ju" in diameter. 

 They also became more ovoid and more granular some 

 of the granules being green and others colourless (r). 

 At this stage a vacuole appeared in their interior, and 



1 Three or four clays previously a much larger quantity of the chloro- 

 phyll layer had been present. 



