584 
DR. J. B. HICKS ON THE GONIDIA AND 
ed with Moss of equal-sized growth 
It is also to he rememhered that, amongst the 
on. They 
In 
Cryptogamia, it is in the Mosses that they assume the most important position, 
are known at present in only three divisions, viz. in Perns, Liverworts, and Mosses 
the two former they are confined to a very small number of short-lived cells. 
But it is when they are considered in combination with their gonidia and their 
indefinite powers of subdivision (only comparable to the Lichens in this respect) that we 
can appreciate the influence they possess in multiplying the Mosses, accounting, doubt- 
less, for their well-known abundance and wide diffusion ; and this brings me to another 
consideration in relation to the reproduction of Mosses by their means. 
I have shown above, that the cells thrown off from the filaments, as also those that 
remain attached, multiply by subdivision on the binary or quaternary plan princi- 
pally (parietal cell-formation), and also that both within these cells when separated, 
as well as in those still attached, cells were formed (free-cell formation) which again 
continued to subdivide. By these processes and their continuation innumerable myriads 
of cells are produced, which possess all the appearances assumed by the results of the 
same efforts in the Lichen-gonidium. At first, I remarked, the contents of the cells were 
granular, but soon became homogeneous and without perceptible nucleus. Thus forms 
of segmenting cells hitherto classed as Chlorococcus (Protococcus) and Glceocapsa 
{Hcematococcus) are produced undistinguishable from those so-called Algae ; so that, 
considering the exceeding diffusibility of the Mosses and Lichens alone, it seems to me 
to be almost impracticable to declare that any of these forms, as well as those I have 
mentioned in my paper on the gonidia of Lichens (above quoted), have an independent 
existence as Algae. 
On the contrary, it seems to me impossible to discriminate between the cells of the 
segmenting gonidia of Algae*, of Lichens, and of Mosses; and hence I believe we shall 
— Chlorococcus, Glceocapsa, 
Sorospora, and some others f, with their so-called species — are but varieties of one mode 
of simple vegetative cell-growth, common to most of the Cryptogamia. What is the 
value of the differences between each kind it seems difficult to decide, but it may pos- 
sibly be less than hitherto supposed. 
Without digressing far into a subject not here intended to be discussed, I shall content 
myself with pointing out the effect such an opinion produces in unsettling our belief in 
the reality of the separate existence and position of the Protophytes generally, more 
particularly those classed by Braun as pseudo-unicellular Algae J. Whether it affects 
Braun's true unicellular Algae requires further investigation ; but it is worthy of notice 
that it is in the former that the forms above named are arranged. 
4. The chlorophyll-utricles next arrest our attention. I have already quoted Nageli's 
remark upon their segmentation, in which opinion Henfrey, in Linn. Trans, vol. xxi. pt. 2. 
p. 121, coincides. But in regard to their cell-wall, difference of opinion exists. The 
observations I have here recorded, it appears to me, tend to explain the two opinions, 
and especially confirm the opinion expressed by the writer of the article on Chlorophyll, 
be obliged to conclude that all the cells classed as Palmellaceae 
Mic 
f Probably also Tetraspora and Hormospora 
X Mic. Journ. 1857, p. 13. 
