203 THE PHENOMENON OF 



jugated cells, the continuity of the spiral bands is finally 

 wholly loosened, the originally green contents of the 

 spores become sometimes lighter, sometimes darker 

 brown, and appear densely filled with oil-drops of dif- 

 ferent sizes. I have neglected to examine whether or 

 not the few starch- grains present at the formation of 

 the spore are still retained when it is ripe ; at all events, 

 the drops of oil form the most important part of the con- 

 tents. The contents of the spore appear totally changed 

 when it is about to germinate; the multitude of large 

 and small oil-drops has vanished, and the opake mucilage, 

 now become green, again exhibits, but indistinctly, a few 

 small drops or vesicles. Newly-formed spiral bands be- 

 come visible, as dark, very closely approximated, frequently 

 somewhat flexuous, oblique streaks, even before the 

 germinating internal cell has broken through its double 

 envelope.* (See pp. 135 and 180.) 



The strange formation of the spore in Palmoglcea, by 

 complete union of two vegetative cells into one single 

 seed-cell, has been already examined (p. 136). During 

 the gradual growing together and fusion of the two com- 

 bining cells, we may trace the formation of fixed oil step 

 by step. Before the beginning of the combination, the 

 cells are filled with finely granular green contents, in 

 which we see arise, during the progress of the union, 

 shining drops, at first very small and distant, gradually 

 growing larger, coming in contact and coalescing, so that 

 the intermediate contents almost entirely disappear, and 

 the complete spore appears filled merely with a mixture 

 of oil-drops of the most varied size. During this process 

 the colour of the cells changes from green to a light 

 yellowish-brown. Vegetative cells, with homogeneous 

 green contents, originate subsequently through trans- 

 formation and division of the contents of these oleaginous 

 seed-cells. The process of the new-formation which I 



* Vide Prin^sheim, translated from the 'Flora,' 1852, iu 'Auu. of Nat. 

 Hist ,' 2d ser., vol. xi, p. 210. — A. H. 



