NATURE OF FUNGI. , 3 



affirmed that the outer coat in some of these productions con- 

 tained so much carbonate of lime that strong effervescence took 

 place on the application of sulphuric acid. Dr. Henry Carter 

 is well known as an old and experienced worker amongst 

 amoeboid forms of animal life, and, when in Bombay, he devoted 

 himself to the examination of the Myxoyastrcs in their early 

 stage, and the result of his examinations has been a firm 

 conviction that there is no relationship whatever between the 

 Myocogastres and the lower forms of animal life. De Bary has 

 himself very much modified, if not wholly abandoned, the views 

 once propounded by him on this subject. When mature, and 

 the dusty spores, mixed with threads, sometimes spiral, are 

 produced, the Myxcgastres are so evidently close allies of the 

 Lycopcrdons, or Puffballs, as to leave no doubt of their affinities. 

 It is scarcely necessary to remark that the presence of zoospores 

 is no proof of animal nature, for not only do they occur in the 

 white rust (Cystopus), and in such moulds as Peronospora* but 

 are common in algae, the vegetable nature of which has never 

 been disputed. 



There is another equally important, but more complicated 

 subject to which we must allude in this connection. This is 

 the probability of minute fungi being developed without the 

 intervention of germs, from certain solutions. The observations 

 of M. Trecul, in a paper laid before the French Academy, have 

 thus been summarized : 1. Yeast cells may be formed in the 

 must of .beer without spores being previously sown. 2. Cells of 

 the same form as those of yeast, but with different contents, 

 arise spontaneously in simple solution of sugar, or to which a 

 little tartrate of ammonia has been added, and these cells are 

 capable of producing fermentation in certain liquids under 

 favourable conditions. 3. The cells thus formed produce Peni- 

 cillium like the cells of yeast. 4. On the other hand, the spores 

 of Penicillium are capable of being transformed into yeast. f 

 The interpretation of this is, that the mould PenicilUum may be 



* De Bury, " Recherches sur le Developpement de quelques Champignons 

 Parasites," in "Ann. des Sci. Nat." 4 ser. (Dot.) xx. p. 5. 

 t "Popular Science Review," vol. -via. p. 96. 



