THE FUNGI i SD 
Crass I.—ScuizomyceTes (BACTERIA) 
The bacteria, also called “schizomycetes”’ or “fission fungi,” 
are now regarded by leading systematists as the lowest types of 
plant life extant. Among them are to be found the smallest 
living organisms known to science. 
BACTERIA are minute, unicellular, colorless, rarely weakly red 
or green colored, vegetable organisms destitute of chlorophyll. 
They serve as agents of decay and fermentation and are fre- 
quently employed in industrial processes. The curing of certain 
Animals 
Non- 
chlorophyll- 
bearing 
plants 
Chilorophyll- Disintegration 
went by saprophytes 
plants & parasites 
Inorganic 
matter 
(Chemical 
elements and 
compounds) 
Fic. 267.—The organic cycle. (After Gager.) 
drugs and tobacco, the tanning of leather, the manufacture of 
vinegar, buttermilk, cheese and indigo, the making of ensilage 
and sauerkraut, and the retting of flax and some other textile 
fibers are all dependent upon fermentative processes induced by 
bacteria. Their form varies from spherical, rod-shaped, spiral 
to filamentous, the filamentous types being frequently surrounded 
by a capsule or sheath. 
"The bodies of most bacteria possess nitrogenous cell walls 
representing outer plasma membranes, although hemicellulose 
has been found in the walls of many and mucilage occurs as a 
