337. Of those which form colonies, Pandorina morum is widely distributed and not rare. It consists of a sphere formed of sixteen individuals enclosed in a thin gelatinous membrane. Each cell possesses two cilia (or flagella), which extend from the broader end out through the enveloping membrane. By the movement of these flagella the colony goes rolling around in the water. When the plant multiplies each individual cell divides into sixteen small cells, which then grow and form new colonies. Reproduction takes place when the individual cells of the young colonies separate, and usually a small individual unites with a larger one and a zygospore is formed (see [fig. 164]). Eudorina elegans is somewhat similar, but when the gametes are formed certain mother cells divide into sixteen small motile males or sperms, and certain other mother cells divide into sixteen large motile females or eggs. These separate from the colonies, and the sperms pair with the eggs and fuse to form zygospores. This plant as well as Chlamydomonas pulvisculus foreshadows the early differentiation of sex in plants.
Fig. 164.
Pandorina morum (Müll.) Bory.
| I, | motile colony; |
| II, | colony divided into |
| 16 daughter colonies; | |
| III, | sexual colony, gametes escaping; |
| IV, V, | conjugating gametes; |
| VI, VII, | young and old zygospore; |
| VIII, | zygospore forming a large swarm |
| spore, which is free in IX; | |
| X, | same large swarm spore divided |
| to form young colony. | |
| (After Pringsheim.) |
Fig. 165.
Pleurococcus
(protococcus)
vulgaris.
338. Family Tetrasporaceæ.—This family is well represented by Tetraspora lubrica forming slimy green net-like sheets attached to objects in slow-running water. It is really a single-celled plant. The rounded cells divide by cross walls into four cells, and these again, and so on, large numbers being held in loose sheets by the slime in which they are imbedded.
339. Family Pleurococcaceæ.—The members of this family are all non-motile in the vegetative stage. They consist of single individuals, or of colonies. Pleurococcus vulgaris (Protococcus vulgaris) is a single-celled alga, usually obtained with little difficulty. It is often found on the shaded, and cool, or moist side of trees, rocks, walls, etc., in damp places. This plant is not motile. It multiplies by fission ([Fig. 165]) into two, then four, etc. These cells remain united for a time, then separate. Sometimes the cells are found growing out into filaments, and it is thought by some that P. vulgaris may be only a simple stage of a higher alga. Eremosphæra viridis is another single-celled alga found in fresh water among filamentous forms. The cells are large and globose.
Fig. 166.