THE HIGHER CllYPTOGAMIA. 5 



bid by numerous granules, and in this fluid, is a spherical 

 or slightly flattened nucleus formed of a less highly 

 refractive substance (PL I, fig. 3). Appearances are not 

 wanting which point to a uniformity in the process of the 

 cell -multiplication with that which usually obtains in the 

 more highly organized plants. The nuclei of the cells of 

 the first and second degree appear sometimes to be under- 

 going a manifest process of dissolution. Individual cells of 

 the first or second degree are sometimes devoid of nuclei 

 (PI. I, fig. 3 *). Not unfrequently two nuclei, not separated 

 by any septum, occur in one and the same cell. The wall 

 between the cell of the first degree and the youngest cell of 

 the second degree is always of the greatest delicacy, so as 

 to leave no doubt that it has only just been produced. 

 From these facts it necessarily follows that the vegetative 

 cell-multiplication in Anthoceros (as in nucleate cells gene- 

 rally) commences by the dissolution of the primary nucleus 

 of the cell, which is quickly followed by the formation of 

 two secondary nuclei. Between the two new nuclei a 

 septum is then formed, which extends through the entire 

 cavity of the cell. 



In the youngest cell of the second degree, sometimes even 

 in a cell of the first degree, there is produced near the surface 

 of the nucleus a colouring matter consisting of numerous, 

 immeasurably small, coloured particles. The particles are 

 of a pale bluish-green colour in the youngest cells ; in the 

 next older cells they tinge the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the nucleus (that is to say, the mass of protoplasm which 

 surrounds it, and from which filaments radiate through the 

 cell-cavity, PI. I, fig. 3) with a bluish verdigris colour. In 

 rather older cells the colouring matter suddenly seems to be 

 enclosed in a well-defined vesicular body surrounding the 

 nucleus (PI. I, fig. 6) ; the somewhat thick, membranous 

 peripheral layer of this body is of an intense emerald green. 

 The less highly refractive substance of the interior of this 

 body is of a much paler colour. At a later period nume- 

 rous very small starch-granules are usually formed in the 

 interior of the chlorophyll-bodies, and, for the most part, 

 inside the nucleus which they surround. No other changes 



* See the lower cell adjoining the apical cell; a cell of the fourth degree. 



