io ORIGIN OF LOWEST ORGANISMS. 



independent existence, and multiply in the form of 

 Bacteria although many of the cases in which such 

 buds scan to be given off, may be merely cases in 

 which co-existing Bacteria have become adherent to 

 fungus filaments or to Torulce* 



But, with reference to these supposed cases of bud- 

 ding, and also to those others in which the contents of 

 a spore or sporangium break up into what Professor 

 Hallier calls " micrococci ' (which are generally inci- 

 pient Bacteria], it would be difficult for us to decide 

 whether such processes are normal or abnormal. 

 When we have to do with such organisms, in fact, 

 there may be the nicest transitions between what is 

 called Homogenesis, and what, when occurring in 

 other organisms, we term Heterogenesis. It may be 

 that the production of such " micrococci ' from the 

 spore or sporangium of the fungus is not an invariable 

 incident in the life-history of the species, but rather an 

 occasional result of the influence of unusual conditions, 

 or of failing vigour on the part of the organism. In 

 this latter case we should have to do with a process of 



* Notwithstanding what Professor Huxley has said, I believe 

 it to be almost certain that in many cases Bacteria exist in a 

 solution in which there are neither Torulce nor developed fungi. 

 And, on the other hand, I have seen fungi growing in a simple 

 (boiled) solution of tartrate of ammonia, for weeks together, 

 without the appearance of Bacteria or the occurrence of any 

 turbidity of the solution ; and on two or three occasions I have 

 seen Torulce swarming in an infusion without the presence of 

 Bacteria. 



