Not only do repeated touches on the glands* and the contact of minute
particles cause aggregation, but if glands, without being themselves
injured, are cut off from the summits of the pedicels, this induces a
moderate amount of aggregation in the headless tentacles, after they
have become inflected. On the other hand, if glands are suddenly
crushed between pincers, as was tried in six cases, the tentacles seem
paralysed by so great a shock, for they neither become inflected nor
exhibit any signs of aggregation.
Carbonate of Ammonia.—Of all the causes inducing aggregation, that
which, as far as I have seen, acts the quickest, and is the most
powerful, is a solution of carbonate of ammonia. Whatever its strength
may be, the glands are always affected first, and soon become quite
opaque, so as to appear black. For instance, I placed a leaf in a few
drops of a strong solution, namely, of one part to 146 of water (or 3
grs. to 1 oz.), and observed it under a high power. All the glands
began to
* Judging from an account of M. Heckel’s observations, which I have
only just seen quoted in the ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle’ (Oct. 10, 1874), he
appears to have observed a similar phenomenon in the stamens of
Berberis, after they have been excited by a touch and have moved; for
he says, “the contents of each individual cell are collected together
in the centre of the cavity.” [page 44]
darken in 10 s. (seconds); and in 13 s. were conspicuously darker. In 1
m. extremely small spherical masses of protoplasm could be seen arising
in the cells of the pedicels close beneath the glands, as well as in
the cushions on which the long-headed marginal glands rest. In several
cases the process travelled down the pedicels for a length twice or
thrice as great as that of the glands, in about 10 m. It was
interesting to observe the process momentarily arrested at each
transverse partition between two cells, and then to see the transparent
contents of the cell next below almost flashing into a cloudy mass. In
the lower part of the pedicels, the action proceeded slower, so that it
took about 20 m. before the cells halfway down the long marginal and
submarginal tentacles became aggregated.