2 1 6 CON JUG A TJE. PART n. 



The Conjugate are fresh-water plants of numerous 

 species, which have almost the same structure as the 

 Confervse, but the green endochrome within the cells of 

 their articulated threads is more highly organized, and 

 the manner of reproduction is altogether different and 

 very peculiar. 



These plants consist of strings of cylindrical cells 

 joined end to end by their flat ends, and generally 



float freely on or near the 

 surface of still water, es- 

 pecially when buoyed up by 

 the bubbles of gas which are 

 liberated from them by the 

 heat and light of the sun. In 

 the early stage of their life, 

 while as yet the cells are 

 undergoing multiplication by 

 self-division, the endochrome 

 is diffused pretty uniformly in 

 each cell; but as the plant 

 approaches towards matur- 

 ity, it undergoes various mo- 

 difications, according to the 

 species. In some it consists 



Fig. 20. Trichodesmiumerythr^um. Qf ^ granules dispose d in 



rows; in others it is formed into broad spiral bands 

 with large granules in binary or stellar groups placed 

 at intervals on it ; and, in the (Edogonium capillare and 

 others, the granules are united in spiral lines which 

 cross one another and form a network. 9 



The act of conjugation by which spores are formed, 

 usually takes place between the cells of two distinct 

 parallel filaments which happen to be adjacent to each 

 other, and all the cells of the two filaments generally 



9 ' Cryptogamic Botany.' By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 



