52 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



wine fungus shows its green mould (which is very healthy) on cheese, we know that 

 the oidium lactis is dead, and the cheese ripe and healthy. 



The second fungus is the Wine fungus which not only transforms the grape must into 

 wine, but is the same that ferments dough. The green mould on stale bread is the 

 florescent state of this fungus. 



The third and last is the Vinegar fungus, which converts sugar in alcohol, this latter 

 into acetic acid (vinegar) and then consumes the vinegar. If it accidentally gets into 

 wine or dough, it rapidly sours it. 



Under the microscope the initial development of all these fungi appears a concatena- 

 tion of cells, sometimes a continuous chain, and at other times diverging in various 

 directions. The cells differ however in size, and somewhat in shape. In the after 

 stages of development they more or less put out roots, called micella, and send up a 

 thallus or stem. These stems in the last stage bear a round puff-ball head called a 

 Mucre, which soon bursts and sheds forth millions of sporangia. You have all observed 

 the slimy substance that coats the surface of the earth where temporary pools made 

 by abundant summer rains, have fermented ; or the slime on the sides and bottom of 

 wine and vinegar casks. This slimy substance is known under the scientific name 

 of phyko-mater. In the pools it is the macerated product of inosculated alga? and the 

 residium of the oidium lactis ; in wine and vinegar it is the macerated scum (fungi) 

 that had arisen on the surface during fermentation as well as the general residium of 

 the fungoid cells. The phyko-mater of vinegar is familiarly known as the mother of 

 vinegar. One peculiarity however marks them all ; when desiccated they can be kept 

 indefinitely, and under proper conditions will each reproduce its generic fungus. 



The phyko-mater in dried up pools, produces immense numbers of mosses. It also 

 forms in and exudes from the pots of hot houses when kept too moist ; and since it 

 completely precludes the air from penetrating the earth, the plants in the pots rapidly 

 sicken and die. The green moss on flowering pots is an indication of its presence. 

 The rot that is so destructive to amygdalaceous fruits, as cherries, peaches and plums, 

 in its first form, springs from a budding cell, sending its thallus upwards, and the 

 micelia over and through the fruit. Under a microscope magnifying 400 or 500 diame- 

 ters, the cells forming the thallus appear lemon-shaped. The thallus rises to the 

 apparent height of an inch, when the terminal cell sends out a side bud which develops 

 itself into a branch, dividing and sub-dividing until there is a miniature tree — yes, a 

 miniature forest, for scores of similar stems occupy the whole field of the microscope. 

 These stems however, produce -no sporangia tor they soon inosculate, forming appar- 

 ently a pulpy mass, out of which may spring the original form, and like it melting 

 dough again to a mass. After a while a remarkable form appears. An extremely at- 

 tenuated fibrous stem (often times several) comes up on the summit of which four 

 elongated cells apparently one-third of an inch long, appear, giving it a daisy like 

 appearance. These cells are transversely divided. The last form observed is an excres- 

 cence resembling a puff ball which, when nature opens and emits millions of sporangia. 

 Where these go, and in what form they hibernate, is unknown. 



But I cannot pursue this matter further. The question has been asked, how do those 

 sporangia maintain themselves during winter. Prof. Turner in his essay, thinks that 

 they somehow enter the roots, or become lodged in decayed parts of the tree. I have 

 serious doubts whether this is so. This and other fungi detrimental to our fruits, have 

 made their appearance for the first time, as diseases, within the memory of the living 



