/ I 



1 



530 T//£ BEGINNINGS OF IIFE. 



It waSj indeedj quite obvious that the green bodies 

 between -g-^^" and ^^/' of an inch in diameter were 



\ 



the thick-walled resting-spores of Vaucheria — some of 



* : 



them being still attached to the filament from which they. 

 had been produced \ It was obvious also that they 

 gradually became decolourized and at the same time 

 animalizedj until at last the contained matter was 

 resolved into a somewhat opaque and coarsely-granular 

 though more bulky^ embryo mass. This mass subse- 

 quently contracted upon itself so as to leave a well- 



r 



marked space between its outer surface and the wall 



of the cyst in which it was enclosed (r)^. It afterwards 



underwent the well-known process of segmentationy 



of which was to be seen in different 

 specimens {d). , ., 



Thousands of such bodies (about 



every stage 



1 " 



500 



long by 

 broad) existed^ and in addition to the facts 

 already mentioned, proving the parental relationship 

 existing between these thick-walled spores of Vaucheria 

 and the embryo Nematoids, it is especially worthy of 

 note that when the latter were first seen, not a single 

 adult form was to be encountered. Though after about 

 one month, those of the previous embryos which had 



T 



^ These thick -walled 'spores are occasionally produced in large 

 numbers upon the sides of the filaments by a process of ' conjugation'; 

 occurring between the contents of two contiguous tubular outgrowths. 



2 The space, however, seemed to be in part due to a still further 

 dilatation of the cyst, the membrane of which had by this time become 

 most appreciably thinner. 



inent of 



fl, 





containing fa 

 ■ ^'^"ar body i, 



and 



somewhr 



''\ 





•^^ss sub 



e 



'S early 



1 1,1!^' «s ( 



■ 'I sib 



'^lueni 



