MICROSCOPIC FORMS OF VEGETABLE LIFE. 



251 



plant a true process of sexual Generation, as was, indeed, long ago sus- 

 pected by Vaucher, though upon no sufficient grounds. The branching 

 filaments are often seen to bear at their sides peculiar globular or oval 

 capsular protuberances, sometimes separated by the interposition of a 

 stalk, which are filled with dark endochrome; and these give exit to large 

 bodies covered with a firm envelope, 

 from which, after a time, new plants Pro, 148 



arise. In the immediate neighborhood 

 of these 'capsules' are always found 

 certain other projections, which, from 

 being usually pointed and somewhat 

 curved, have 'been named ' horns ' (Fig. 

 148, A, ); and these have been shown 

 by Pringsheim to be ' antheridia/ which 

 produce, i antherozoids ' in their inte- 

 rior; whilst the capsules (A, b) are 

 * oogonia/ each containing a mass of en- 

 dochrome which constitutes a ' germ- 

 cell ' that is destined to become, when 

 fertilized, the primordial cell of a new 

 generation. The antherozoids (B, c, d), 

 when set free from the antheridium a, 

 swarm over the exterior of the oogon- 

 ium b, and have actually been seen to 

 penetrate its cavity through an aperture 

 which opportunely forms in its wall, 

 and to come into contact with the sur- 

 face of its endochrome-mass, over which 

 they diffuse themselves; there they seem 

 to undergo dissolution, their substance 

 mingling itself with that of the germ- 

 cell; and the endoplasm of the ' oospore ' 

 thus formed, which had previously no 

 proper investment of its own, soon 

 begins to form an envelope (c, b), which 

 increases in thickness and strength, un- 

 til it has acquired such a density as 

 enables it to afford a firm protection to 

 its contents. 



250. The Microscopist who wishes 



to Study the development of ' ZOOSpOreS,' <> the 'horns' or Antheridia (a) and one 



rf iii /. of the Capsules (6), as yet unopened; at B 



as Well as Several Other phenomena of the antheridium is seen in the act of emit- 



tln'<3 Inw +vnp nf voo-ofnfirm rnaTr ar\ * in R the antherozoids (c), of which many 



10W t}p<3 01 Vegetation, may ad- eilt er the opening at the apex of the cap- 



VantageOUSly have recourse to the little sule, whilst others (d) which do not enter 



plant termed AcMya prolifera, which 



.grows parasitically upon the bodies of 



dead r lies lying in the water, but also stituting an oospore. 



not unfrequently attaches itself to the 



gills of Fish, and is occasionally found on the bodies of Frogs. 1 Its tufts 



Successive phases of Generative process 

 in Vaucheria sessilis:A.t A are seen one 



1 This Plant, though, as an inhabitant of water, formerly ranked among Algce, 

 is now more generally regarded as belonging to the group of Fungi, on account 

 of its incapacity for the production of chlorophyll, and its parasitism on the 

 /bodies of Animals, from whose juices its cells seem to draw their nourishment, j 



