FUNGI 209 



This potential energy the sprout was able to change into 

 the kinetic form by the aid of oxygen, and to use in the 

 work of growing. After this latent energy had been ex- 

 pended, it had to fall back upon the direct energy of the 

 sun which came to it in the form of sunlight. 



98. Fungi. Experiment 111. Expose a piece of moist bread 

 to the air for a short time and then put it into a covered dish so as to 

 retain the moisture. Does any change take place in the bread? Ex- 

 amine with a magnifying glass the mold which appears. 



Experiment 112. (1) Bruise a sound apple and place the bruised 

 part in contact with a thoroughly rotten apple. Wrap the two up to- 

 gether in a wet cloth and put in a fruit jar. Seal the jar to prevent 

 the water from evaporating. (2) Plunge a pin repeatedly first into a 

 rotten apple and then into a sound one. Wrap the sound apple in a 

 wet cloth and seal in a fruit jar. (3) Place a lemon which has de- 

 veloped a green, spongy, rotten place in it in contact with a perfect 

 lemon and keep them where they will be moist. What happens 

 to the sound fruits ? 



The plants that we have so far studied are green plants 

 and contain chlorophyll. They are able to prepare their 

 food from the air and soil by the aid of the sun's energy. 

 There is, however, another great group of plants which 

 have no chlorophyll and which are obliged to live upon the 

 food that green plants have prepared. They find this food 

 either in the living or in the dead parts of plants or animals, 

 the animals having digested it from plants or other animals 

 who originally obtained it from plants. 



Plants that have no chlorophyll and live upon the food 

 green plants have prepared are called fungi. The bacteria 

 belong to this group. If plants live upon living plants or 

 animals, they are called parasites, if upon dead ones, sapro- 

 phytes. Plants of this kind are exceedingly important, 

 although many of them can be seen only with the micro- 

 scope. Without them the earth would soon become unin- 



