258 M. Miller on the Development of Chara. 
rence. This globule did not deliquesce, was moveable to and fro 
much as before, and was only rendered slightly brown by iodine, 
whereupon the above delicate granules became again perceptible, 
having become coloured somewhat more brown. , 
Thus the starch-cells enter into direct combination with the 
elements of the water, as they are now no longer coloured blue, 
but brownish by iodine. But the bursting leads us to imagine 
that the softened and metamorphosed starch-cells are inclosed 
by an extremely delicate membrane, which cannot be again ren- 
dered evident, and the existence of which would also indicate 
that the formative process takes place from within outwards. 
According to Schleiden it is the reverse ; but this appears to me 
the only deduction on the poimt. He has also correctly sup- 
posed* that the starch gradually becomes merely finely divided 
and not chemically dissolved ; for in consequence of the constant 
existence of the above minute granules, which are here consti- 
tuted of starch only, no further inference can be made. As there 
is no other substance in the spore than starch, the granules must 
be formed from it. Hence we have merely another state of ag- 
gregation, from which new modifications, such as cellulose, dex- 
trine, membranous substance and all their isomeric compounds, 
may be formed, but into which we cannot enter any further. 
This sufficiently proves that an apparently oily mucous liquid 
is formed from the starch, and several observers attest the exist- 
ence of true globules of oil in it. Whether such really exist in 
the fertile starch-cells, whether they are formed simultaneously 
with the starch in a different state of aggregation, or whether they 
exist at all, 1 must leave undetermined. It is more important 
that by this formation the starch is prepared so as to be assimi- 
dated by the membrane of the nucleus. Hence we may designate 
the above fluid with good reason and correctly as cytoblastema. 
As soon as this is assimilated the above membrane expands 
lengthwise, ruptures the sporular membrane at the apex, presses 
back the five cells of the sporular membrane which confine it like 
five valves, and thus appears in the form of a simple transparent 
vesicle, which now only elongates, so as to proceed rapidly to- 
wards the formation of the germ-plant. That it is merely the 
membrane of the nucleus which here expands, may be seen with 
the greatest certainty—although Bischoff doubts it—in a true 
nucleus-sac taken out of the sporular membrane (fig. 4). 
§ 4, The Embryo. 
The vesicle now elongates so as to form a utricular cell, the 
apex of which then speedily becomes spherical, and oblique septa 
* Grundz. i. p. 179. 
