66o 



FUNGI 



'Y 'j ' .."-.'im 



For the more difficult ones (Jl. ten no and J>. lineola) more careful 

 arrangements are required. In dried specimens the flagella can be 

 readily demonstrated, and easily photographed, by staining them by 

 a special method introduced by Loffler (fig. 496). 



The germinating power of the spores of Bacteria maybe brought 

 into operation at once on their reaching ripeness, or they may be 

 desiccated for an indefinite time, and again, on reaching suitable 

 surroundings, will germinate as before. This power is held in vari- 

 ous degrees by different forms, but the whole subject needs more 

 uniform and exhaustive inquiry. The spores of Jl. subtilis retain 

 their vitality for years if kept in a dry air, while those of 

 />. anthracis are stated by Pasteur to remain alive in absolute 

 alcohol ; l and Brefeld found their power to germinate uninjured 

 after the lapse of three years in a dry atmosphere. He also found 

 them proof against the boiling-point of water, and even a higher 



temperature, but he 

 found that fewer and 

 fewer survived in boil- 

 ing nutrient fluid until 

 the end of the third 

 hour, when all were 

 destroyed. So Buchner 

 found that the same 

 spores were wholly 

 killed only after three 

 or four hours' boiling ; 2 

 while Pasteur states 

 that groups of un- 

 certain spores can 

 withstand a tempera- 

 ture of 130 C. There 

 is. however, 



VJ 



uncer- 



tainty, because a want 

 of uniformity, in the 

 results from various 

 sources to 25 < ' 

 may be taken as the 



average degree of temperature at which these organisms will freely 

 germinate ; but E. termn. for example, has been known to germinate 

 from 5-5 C. to 40 C. 



Nothing like 'conjugation,' or any other form of sexual genera- 

 tion, has yet been witnessed in any Bacteria ; and until such shall 

 have been discovered, no confidence can be felt that we know the 

 entire life-history of any one type. 3 When these facts are allowed 



PIG. 496. Flagella of Typhoid Bacilli, x 1,000, stained 

 by Loffler' s method. (Fninkel and Pfeiffer.l 



' (.'harbon et Septieemie,' <'n>nj>t. Unnl. Ixxxv. p. !l!l. 

 Naegeli, Uiitrm. iihi-r nicili-n- J J /I::<; 1882, p. \>-2(l. 



\, it seems unquestionable thai amon^ the higher Fungi ' conjugation ' often 

 es place at a very early stuj,'e <>t j,'ro\vtli, it seems a not very improbable surmise 

 that the ' granular spheres ' observed by Kwurt In Jim-Hlux and Sj>iriUiim,vr}w]\ 

 seem to correspond with the ' microplasts ' observed by Hay Lankester in his 

 linrtiTiniii rzt&escews, may be a product of i-onju^ation in' the micrococcus stage of 

 i he-,,- organisms. 



