Protoplast synonyms

This is a primal necessity of the protoplast,and every cell gives evidence of its need by adopting one of the various ways in which such need is supplied.

No doubt the primary object of the cell-wall of even the humblest protoplast is protection, and this too is the meaning of the coarser tegumentary structures of a bulkier plant.

In some cases both the nucleus and the chromatophores may be carried along in the rotating stream, but in others, such as T.Titeila, the chloroplasts may remain motionless iii a non-motile layer of the cytoplasm in direct contact with the cell wall.i Desmids, Diatoms and Oscillaria show creeping movements probably due to the secretion of slime by the cells; the swarmspores and plasmodium of the Myxomycetes exhibit amoehoid movements; and the motile spores of Fungi and Algae, the spermatozoids of mosses, ferns, &c., move by means of delicate prolongations, cilia or flagella cf the protoplast.

Occupying as these algae do perhaps the lowest grade of plant life, it is a matter of interest to ascertain whether a nucleus or chromatophore is differentiated in their cells, or whether the functions and properties of these bodies are diffused through the whole protoplast.