PLANT STUDIES 
( 164). The other cells are longer than in Ulothrix, each 
cell containing a single nucleus and apparently several 
chloroplasts, but really there is but one large complex 
chloroplast. 
The cells of the filament have the power of division, thus 
increasing the length of the filament. Any cell also may 
act as a sporangium, the contents of a mother cell organiz- 
ing a single large asexual spore, which is a zoospore. The 
zoospore escapes from the mother cell into the water, and at 
its more pointed clear end there is a little crown of cilia, by 
means of which it swims about rapidly (Fig. 206, C). After 
moving about for a time the zoospore comes to rest, attaches 
itself by its clear end to some support, elongates, begins to 
divide, and develops a new filament (Fig. 206, J9, E). 
Other cells of the filament become very different from 
the ordinary cells, swelling out into globular form (Fig. 
206, A, B), and each such cell organizes within itself a 
single large egg (oosphere). As the egg is a female gamete, 
the large globular cell which produces it, and which is dif- 
ferentiated from the other cells of the body, is the oogo- 
nium. A perforation in the oogonium wall is formed for 
the entrance of sperms. 
Other cells in the same filament, or in some other fila- 
ment, are observed to differ from the ordinary cells in 
being much shorter, as though an ordinary cell had been 
divided several times without subsequent elongation (Fig. 
206, -4,/, B, a). In each of these short cells one or two 
sperms are organized, and therefore each short cell is an 
antheridium. When the sperms are set free they are seen 
to resemble very small zoospores, having the same little 
crown of cilia at one end. 
The sperms swim actively about in the vicinity of the 
oogonia, and sooner or later one enters the oogonium 
through the perforation provided in the wall, and fuses 
with the egg (Fig. 206, B, c). As a result of this act of fer- 
tilization an oospore is formed, which organizes a firm wall 
