34 DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA. (Cuap. III. 
little masses incessantly change their forms and positions, 
being never at rest. A single mass will often separate into 
two, which afterwards reunite. Their movements are rather 
slow, and resemble those of Amosbe or of the white 
‘corpuscles of the blood. We may therefore conclude that 
they consist of protoplasm.* If their shapes are sketched at 
Fic. 7. 
(Drosera rotundifolia.) 
Diagram of the same cell of a tentacle, showing the various forms successively 
assumed by the aggregated masses of protoplasm. 
intervals of a few minutes, they are invariably seen to have 
undergone great changes of form ; and the same cell has been 
observed for several hours. Eight rude, though accurate 
sketches of the same cell, made at intervals of between 2m. 
or 3 m., are here given (fig. 7), and illustrate some of the 
* (This conclusion has been shown 
to be erroneous; there can be no 
doubt that the aggregated masses 
are concentrations or precipitations 
of the cell-sap, and that their sup- 
posed ameboid movements are the 
result of the streaming protoplasm, 
which moulds the passive masses into 
a variety of forms. 
Pfeffer was the first to insist on 
this view of the nature of aggrega- 
tion, in his ‘Osmotische Untersuch- 
ungen’ (1877). Since then the 
subject has been investigated by 
Schimper (‘Botanische Zeitung,’ 
1882, p. 233), who describes the 
aggregated masses as concentrations 
of cell-sap, rich in tannin, and float- 
ing in the swollen and transparent 
protoplasm. 
Schimper’s observations are con- 
firmed by Gardiner (‘Proc. Royal Soc.,” 
Nov. 19, 1885, No. 240, 1886), who 
describes the protoplasm in the stalk- 
cells of Drosera dichotoma as swelling 
up by the absorption of the “ water 
from its own vacuole,” and thus 
leaving the tannin in cell-sap in a 
concentrated condition. Gardiner 
has added some curious observa- 
tions on the connection between 
aggregation and the condition of 
the cell as regards turgidity. He 
supposes that aggregation is connected 
with a loss of water, and that an 
aggregated cell is in a condition of 
diminished turgidity. This is sup- 
ported by his observation that “ in- 
jection of water into the tissue will 
at once stop aggregation, and restore 
the cell to its normal condition.” 
These changes are connected with 
