160 VEGETABLE PAEASITES. 



all normal, even to the lowest hard and horny layer. The cutis 

 is sometimes a little redder, corresponding to the seat and extent 

 of the spots. The masses of fungi may also be wholly or par- 

 tially removed from the uninjured skin, leaving only a moist 

 surface behind, by means of ^ myrtle leaf. H. E. Richter 

 scratches off the scales, puts them under an object-glass, and 

 moistens them with acetic ether. The fungus is well shown by 

 this method. 



Anatomy. If a patch of fungi is cut out of the skin, toge- 

 ther with the nearest surrounding parts, and placed under the 

 microscope, and viewed from below and above, it is found that the 

 fungus-patch lies in the uppermost horny layer. The patch im- 

 bedded between two layers, the lower and larger of which is 

 formed by the filaments, the upper and smaller by the spores of 

 the fungus. The vertical diameter of the patch is greatest in 

 the direction of the hair-funnel, where the spores thrive best, 

 thinner at the circumference a proof that the fungi lie in cor- 

 responding layers. If such a patch is left in the water for 

 twenty-four to forty-eight hours at the common temperature, the 

 fungus, which has been soaked and loosened, may be removed by 

 means of the curved couching-needle, without losing its con- 

 sistency. 



The threads are B J/" broad, round, serpentine, knotty, branch- 

 ing off in all directions, and entangled; they are transparent, 

 slightly yellowish coloured, with moderately sharp outlines, and 

 become smaller and paler by age, as well as in vinegar. The 

 spores sprout at the end of a fibre, sometimes also at the side, 

 and form very dense bunches of ~" longitudinal diameter. If 

 the bunches consist only of a few spores, the latter may often 

 be seen on a little branch of the divided filament. Even spores 

 torn off are branched or united in small chains. The spores are 

 round, with a sharpish contour, and on an average ~" in dia- 

 meter. Many of them have one or two little bodies in their 

 interior which refract the light more strongly, and which are 

 rarely missing. Gudden does not regard them as nuclei. The 

 fungus is, moreover, covered with a thin connected layer of 

 epidermis, which is best seen where a fold in the skin is formed. 

 Between the fibres and cells of the fungus there are fragments 

 of the epidermis and molecular detritus. Almost every little 

 patch is pierced by a hair, and the spores heap themselves up, 

 especially in the funnel of the hair, descending deep into the 



