156 Miscellaneous. 
every point, except in that the embryonic cell of the male ovule 
whilst retaining its cell-form, has become a special organ, endowed 
with a special property, viz. fecundation by the intromission of the 
pollen-tube into the ovule: whilst in the female ovule, on the con- 
trary, the embryonary cells analogous to those of the male ovuleé are 
metamorphosed into anatomical elements (trachez, dotted vessels, 
cellular tissue, &c.).” on 
The reporters go on to observe :—‘‘ 2. That the facts contained 
in this part of the (M. Robin’s) memoir demonstrate that, in cryp- 
togamic plants, the antheridia must be regarded as the analogues of 
the male ovules of vegetables: they are formed, in fact, of a homo- 
geneous envelope,—the vitelline membrane, and contain a granular 
mass,—the vitellus. At the expense of this vitellus are formed the 
moveable animalcules of algze, mosses, &c., the true spermatozoa of 
algze, as believed by MM. Thuret, Decaisne, and Montagne, &c. 
The observations of M. Robin tend also to show, that the sperma- 
tozoa of many alge have sometimes been confounded with spores 
provided with vibratile cilia, or zoospores; and he describes, after 
some original observations, the development of those of Ulva lactuca. 
He states that in this plant the granular contents, or vitellus of the 
cells of the frond,—which fulfil the office of antheridia, or of the 
male ovule, become broken up into two, four, or eight, or into as 
many as twelve, twenty-four, and even thirty-two segments, or little 
spheres, after the same plan as prevails in the division to form pollen 
grains, or vegetable, or animal embryonic cells. Very soon four 
cilia are developed on one point of the surface of these spherules, and 
then the latter escape from the ruptured antheridium, evincing very 
active movements. With respect to cryptogamic plants, the male 
fecundating corpuscles of which are as yet undiscovered, further re- 
searches are necessary. 
*©3. M. Reichert has watched the development of the spermatozoa 
in the Strongylus auricularis, and in the Ascaris acuminata. In the 
first stage, some transparent cells spring up at the bottom of the testi- 
cular tubes, each provided with a germinal vesicle, the contents of which 
soon become granular, and assimilate it to the vitellus of the female 
ovum ; whilst the envelope appears homogeneous and amorphous, like 
the vitelline membrane: in short, it is a true ovule, similar in every 
respect to one of known female origin. The vitellus very soon 
divides into two spheres, then into four, each of which gets inclosed 
by a wall, and constitutes an embryonic cell: by degrees each cell 
thus produced changes its form, and at the same time a prolongation 
makes its appearance at one of its poles, which forms the tail of the 
spermatozoon, the cell itself forming the head or body. M. Ségond 
has, in conjunction with M. Robin, also noted this identity of the 
male and female ovule in the blue Rhizostoma (Rhizostoma Cuvieri), 
as well as some of the phenomena of the evolution of the vitellus. 
‘«* Résumé.—1. It is seen that an ovule is formed in the male organs 
analogous to that derived from the ovary; that in the male ovule 
grains of pollen or zoosperms are developed, after the same manner 
as the primitive cells of the embryo are formed in the female ovule, 
and hence these fecundating corpuscles are the analogues of the em- 
