56 H. MARSHALL WARD. 



the normal ovum, or female mass of protoplasm, is incapable of further 

 development until it has received the protoplasm of the male ; that 

 the latter, in fact, incites the former to further development. In 

 many cases, indeed, the protoplasm of the egg or ovum gets rid of a 

 small portion of its substance, as the " polar bodies," as if to make 

 room (so to speak) for the substance coming to it from the male. 1 



While in the higher organisms we can distinguish the male elements 

 — spermatozoa, antherozoids, &c, only in so far that they are much 

 smaller and more numerous than those of the female organs ; we find 

 that in the lower forms of life even this difference in size is absent, 

 and there is absolutely no safe criterion to determine which of the 

 two conjugating masses of protoplasm is to be regarded as male and 

 which as female. 



Nevertheless, if we consider cases such as are afforded by the fungi, 

 we are certainly on safe ground when we call the antheridium of 

 Pythium a male organ, and the oogonium of the same a female organ. 

 The protoplasm contained in the former is itself incapable of further 

 development, but normally passes over into the protoplasm (oosphere) 

 contained in the latter; the oosphere is then — i.e. after fertilisation — 

 capable of further development. 



This " further development," however, is nothing more than growth ; 

 and, what is more, growth according to the same laws as affected the 

 parent plant which produced the sexual organs. In cases where the 

 plant is divided into cells, this growth or germination of the oospore 

 commences with division into a number of cells. 



The outcome of all we know of these matters leads to the conviction 

 that we have in the germination or development of an oospore — and 

 the same is true for an egg, &c, the terms being different — simply a 

 renewal of the growth of the organism ; and from this and other con- 

 victions follows the result that the formation of an oosphere, although 

 it may take place after an accumulation of large quantities of food, 

 implies a condition of weariness — if the term may be allowed — on the 

 part of the protoplasm for the time being. No doubt the molecular 

 energy of the protoplasm forming the oosphere, is less than that of 

 the rest of the plant for the time being ; the access of the antherozoid 

 or male protoplasm, however, reinvigorates the sluggish mass, and 

 renewed life ensues. This may require some time, however, and we 



1 That something of the same kind takes place in the Saprolegnice is suggested in my paper 

 on this group, ' Quarterly Journ. Mic. So.,' 1883. 



