6 HOFMEISTER, ON 



of importance occur in the chlorophyll-bodies during the 

 life of the cell. Anthoceros alone, therefore, amongst all 

 known plants, exhibits the phenomenon of a single very 

 large chlorophyll-body in each cell* The form of it in 

 Anthoceros Icevis is (in most of the cells) globular or ellip- 

 soidal; in the very elongated cells of older shoots it is 

 flattened and spindle-shaped, and then often much drawn 

 out at the points ; in the epidermal cells it is much flat- 

 tened, and, when seen from above, often irregularly stellate. 

 The normal form of the chlorophyll-bodies in Anthoceros 

 punctatus is similar. The chlorophyll-bodies of both species 

 are always parietal in the older cells, closely attached to the 

 mucilaginous layer clothing the inner surface of the cell, 

 i. e., the primordial utricle. By treatment with a weak 

 alkaline solution, the primordial utricle shrivels up. It 

 then appears in the form of a delicate sac, to the inner wall 

 of which the chlorophyll-body is attached (PI. I, fig. 10). 

 In cells which already possess a fully developed chlorophyll- 

 body, the duplication of the latter precedes the division 

 which takes place by the formation of a septum. In cells 

 on the under or upper surface, in which division is about to 

 take place, two separate chlorophyll-bodies are often found, 

 each of which encloses a (secondary) nucleus (PL I, fig. 6). 

 In the chlorophyll-bodies of cells which are about to divide, 

 and which bodies occupy about two thirds of the cavity of 

 the cell, the included primary nucleus of the cell always 

 becomes less distinct, and eventually disappears altogether. 

 In the chlorophyll-bodies of other neighbouring cells may 

 be seen two indisputably newly formed nuclei. The chlo- 

 rophyll-bodies of other cells again exhibit a dark line in the 

 equator of the ellipsoidal chlorophyll-body (PI. I, fig. 14 h ), 

 the dark line being the side view of the dense assemblage 

 of immeasurably small coloured particles lying in the equa- 

 torial plane. No intermediate stages between this condition 

 and the perfect division of the chlorophyll-body into two 

 parts has been observed ; the one seems to follow r inime- 



* In the ' Vergleichende Untersuclrangen,' p. 3, I called this body a 

 chlorophyll-vesicle — a name which H. v. Mohl has rightly objected to as inaccu- 

 rate, inasmuch as, when the chlorophyll-body has swollen and become partly 

 dissolved by the absorption of water, no trace of a surrounding membrane is 

 visible.— 'Sot. Zeitmg,' 1S55, p. 107. 



