o'2 SURVEY OF THE REPRODUCTIVE PROCESS 



4. § REPRODUCTION IN THE ALGiE GENERALLY AND CHARACE^. 



Of the three current divisions of Algae — Confervoide?e or 

 green-spored, Floridese or red-spored, and Fucoideae or olive- 

 spored — the first is generally considered as including those 

 simpler forms already noticed in which conjugation occurs, 

 as well as others of higher organization, in which, as in the 

 order generally, a distinction of sexual elements seems to 

 prevail. 



The spermatic particles of Algse go under the name of 

 antherozoids or phytozoa, but, with one or two doubtful ex- 

 ceptions, they are not filiform hke the bodies so called in 

 the higher Ciyptogamia, but ordinarily of an ovoid form, 

 wth two long cilia attached at one end, whose play im- 

 presses upon the corpuscule a rapid jerking motion. The 

 particles supposed to play the part of antheriozoids in the 

 Floridese appear to be destitute of cilia and of all motile 

 power. The germinal bodies are small globular masses of 

 protoplasm occupying the interior of cells termed sporangia. 

 No conjugation or direct union of cells takes place in this 

 group, but the concourse of the elements is effected by the 

 fonnation of pores in the cell-walls, through which the sper- 

 matic particles escape from their proper cells and gain access 

 to the interior of the sporangia ; the perforations in the 

 latter are termed micropyles. 



Zoospores — a sort of motile cihated gemmules found in 

 connection with the conjugating Algse which have no anthe- 

 rozoids — occur also throughout the present group, except 

 among the Floridese. Though liable to be confounded together, 

 the two kinds of corpuscules present generally certain struc- 

 tural diversities, and have totally different functions. The 

 zoospores are generally larger, their cilia are more numerous, 

 and their motion through the water more uniform. They 

 appear to be formed by the breaking up of the endochrome 

 of some of the component cells of the filament or frond, and 



