=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.
[Illustration: 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.)]
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 166.
Pediastrum boryanum. _A_, mature colony, most of the young colonies
have escaped from their mother cells; at _g_, a young colony is
escaping; _sp_, empty mother cells; _B_, young colony; _C_, same colony
with spores arranged in order. (After Braun.)]
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