BOTANY. 



5. In a dilute solution of potash protovilaam is dissolved ; if, how- 

 ever, the solution is concentrated, the form of the protoplasm remains 

 unaltered for weeks, but upon the addition of water it at once dissolves. 



6. Protoplasm coagulates upon the application of heat (50 degrees 

 Centigrade), or when immersed in alcohol or dilute mineral acids. 



3. — In consistence protoplasm is a soft-solid substance, 

 Tarying from an almost perfect fluidity on the one hand to 

 a considerable degree of hardness and even brittleness on 



the other. This difference in con- 

 sistence is mainly due to the vary- 

 ing amounts of water imbibed by 

 it, hence the same mass may at 

 different times vary greatly in this 

 regard. Generally there may be 

 seen in protoplasm a large number 

 of minute granules enclosed in a 

 transparent medium (Fig. 2, A) ; 

 in some instances, however, the 

 granules are entirely wanting, or 

 nearly so. By the withdrawal of 

 these granules for a little distance 

 from the surface toward the cen- 

 tre, a mass of granular protoplasm 

 (the endoplasm) may appear to be 

 tracting branch of a large piasmo- surrounded by a hyaline envelope, 



aium of FiUigo varians (^Ihalium . x n ■ i • 



fepticum of aulhors); the narrow the protoplaSmiC SKin, Or eCtO- 



inner granular masB of protoplasm , ,,, rr j 7 • 7 _i i- -r. • 



)B seen to be surrounded by a broad plasm (tlie HautSC/llcM 01 i^ringS- 



hyaline portion, the ectoplasm, i ■ j tt j 7 j! n^ 



which inthiscascisradially streak- aeim., SiRO. liauptplasma of StraS- 



Fig. 3.— Optical section of a re- 



ed 



Above i. see,, a fragment of ^^^g^j.) (J^jg 3)^ j^ jg ^^^^^^ ^j. 



the body of tlie plaBmodmm ; its 



liTsSfflX^rfySfnT^i! ways formed when protoplasm is 

 veiope. X 2oo.-AfterHofmei8ter. exposed in Water Or air ; but it, or 



something very much like it, appears to be generally 



present, even in closed cells. 



(a) The fine granules are probably not proper constituents of proto- 

 plasm, but finely divided assimilated food-materials immersed in the 

 proper protoplasm, which is itself colorless and transparent. Proto- 

 plasm destitute of granules may he found in the cotyledons of the 

 bean (Phaseolus), In other cases, e.g., in the zygospores of Spirogyra, 

 the granular and coloring matters are so abundant that the hyaline 

 basis can no longer be distinguished. 



