106 THE FLORIST AND 



the form of little grains which become more and more distinct, and among 

 which an extraordinary activity soon manifests itself. Soon the tube breaks 

 to make a passage for the granules ; these escape with impetuosity and all 

 at once, except some which wander along the sides until they find an orifice 

 by which they can get out. The mass of the granules is spread out like a 

 cloud in the surrounding water where they whirl about with such a rapidity 

 (liveliness) that an ant hill or a swarm of bees can give but a feeble idea of it : 

 and on account of the promptitude of these movements, it would be very dif- 

 ficult to recognise their forms, if they wer3 not rendered immovable by being 

 killed by a drop of acid or of water of iodine : the iodine colouring them 

 brown, has the advantage of making their organs more visible, and as the 

 action of the poison arrests them suddenly in the different attitudes which 

 they have taken, we can now examine them under every aspect and make for 

 ourselves an exact idea of their form. 



We see then, that these diminutive bodies have the form of an egg or of 

 a top, the larger part is occupied by the green matter ; the anterior ex- 

 tremity is colorless, terminated by a kind of beak, near which is seen a reddish 

 point analogous to the eyes of the infusoriae : this beak is furnished besides 

 with several vibrating hairs, which perform the offices of feet or fins, and by 

 means of which they move with that rapidity which astonishes lookers-on. 



These little beings then furnished with an apparatus of locomotion, can be 

 classed in the animal kingdom, as this character has generally been regarded 

 as sufficient to distinguish animals from plants. 



Let us now examine some of these bodies which we have not killed by io- 

 dine. We shall see that after a certain time their movements become less and 

 less rapid; by and by we see them fix themselves by their beak to the side 

 of the vase in which we have observed them ; their swimming hairs become 

 useless, detach themselves and disappear ; their anterior extremity developes 

 and prolongs itself into a tube, and, in a few moments, the animal is trans- 

 formed into a plant like that which gave it birth, a plant which passes 

 through the same phases of vegetation and which does not omit in its turn to 

 push forth its myriads of reproductive animals. 



These beings to which they have given the name of Zoospores, that is, ani- 

 mal seeds, have been noticed, sometime since, but in a very imperfect man- 

 ner, in some confervoe of fresh water. Recent observations have shown that 

 the greater part of the Algae, even the great Laminariae of our coasts, re- 

 produce themselves by means of Zoospores, and this discovery, as well as the 

 deep study of these reproductive bodies is due to the deep study of one of 

 our colleagues, M. G. Thuret, whose magnificent works on the Zoospores 



