CHARACE.E. 



[ 134 ] 



CHEESE-MOULD. 



composed of eight triangular plates, each 

 composed of a number of long wedge-shaped 

 cells radiating from a central cell. The plates 

 have dentate margins, by which they fit into 

 one another (fig. 125). The cells contain a 

 red colouring matter. In the centre of each 

 plate, inside, rises an oblong cell, running in 

 toward the centre, where it meets its fellows 

 from the other plates, and they are united 



Fig. 125. 



Fig. 125. A globule, magnified 50 diam., showing the 

 triangular valves. 



Fig. 126. A globule cut in half, to show the oblong 

 cells and the septate filaments in the centre, 50 diam. 



Fig. 127. Portion of a septate filament, 200 diam., with 

 two biciliated spermatozoids, 400 diam. 



Fig, 128. Chara translucens, showing its simple tubes 

 and nucules grouped in threes under the terminal glo- 

 bule. 



Fig. 129, Diagram representing the course of the cir- 

 culation in the main tube and branches of Chara. 



by a little collection of spherical cells; a 

 ninth cell, of similar form but larger size, 

 comes to join these in the centre, it being 

 the pedicle of the globule, arising from the 

 branch upon which it is seated, and entering 

 the globule between the lower four valves. 

 At the point where these nine cells meet in the 

 centre, a number of long septate filaments arise 

 (fig. 126). These are composed, when ma- 

 ture, of a large number of cells placed end 

 to end (figs. 126 & 127), each of which 

 finally discharges a ciliated spiral filament 

 (spermatozoid), which swims actively in the 

 water. The globule bursts, by the separation 

 of its triangular valves, when mature, and it 

 is after this that the spermatozoids are 

 emitted. The form of these spermatozoids 

 is very like that of those found in the Mosses, 

 and different from what is seen in the Ferns, 

 Lycopodiacea3, &c. (PI. 32. figs. 31-34). 



'The nucule of the Charaj (figs. 124 & 128), 

 which is regarded by some authors as a pis- 

 tillidium, is an oval body coated by five cells 

 wound spirally around a central tough sac, 

 the five cells terminating above in five or ten 

 smaller cells, which project like teeth from 

 the summit, forming a kind of crown. The 

 cells of the crown separate from each other 

 at a particular period, leaving a canal leading 

 down to the central cell, which contains 

 protoplasm, oil, and starch-globules. Ulti- 

 mately the nucule falls off, germinates, and 

 becomes developed into a new plant. 



The Chares also multiply by gemmae, pro- 

 duced at the articulations of the stem. 



BIBL. Corti, Osservazioni, fyc. sulla Cir- 

 culazione, fyc. Lucca, 1774; Amici, Osserva- 

 zioni sulla Circulazione, fyc., Mem. di Societa 

 italiana, viii. vol. ii. Modena, 1818; Ann. des 

 Sc.nat. 1824; Dutrochet, Ann. des Sc. nat. 

 ser. 2. x. 349 ; Meyen, Pflanzen-physiologie, 

 ii. 206 ; Varley, Trans. Soc. of Arts. xlix. 1 833 ; 

 Trans. Microscop. Soc. ii. 93. 1849 ; Slack, 

 Trans. Soc. of Arts. xlix. ; Thuret, Ann. des 

 Sc. nat. ser. 2. xiv. 65 ; ser. 3. xvi. 18 ; 

 Treviranus, Physiologic der Gewachse, i. 1 839 ; 

 Kiitzing, Phyc. generalis, 313; C. Miiller, 

 Botanische Zeitung, 1845, transl. in Ann. 

 Nat. Hist. xvii. 254 et seq. ; Goppert and 

 Cohn, Botanische Zeit. vii. 665 et seq. 1849; 

 Al. Braun, Bericht Berlin. Akad. 1852-3; 

 Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 2. xii. 297. 



CHARACIUM, Al. Braun. Apparently 

 the germinating gonidium of an GEdogonium 

 at once producing zoospores. 



CHEESE-MITES. See ACARUS DO- 



MESTICUS. 



CHEESE-MOULD. See ASPERGILLUS. 



