22 THE ORGANISMS OF FERMENTATION 



I. Thcdlophyta.-?hMou* plants, with- f Class '" ^'--Fungi, devoid of chloro- 

 outl aves, stems, roots, or vascular J. 2 Algv.-Mg*, containing chloro- 



bundles. ^ phyl] 



II. Bryophyta Mosses, with leaves and ) 3 . Hepatirup. Liverworts. 



stems, devoid of true roots and 

 vascular bundles. 



IIT. Ptcridophyta. Vascular cryptogams, 

 with leaves, stems, true roots, and 

 vascular bundles. 



4. Musci. Feather mosses. 



5. Lquisetince. Horse-tails. 



6. LycopodincE. Lycopodiurn. 



7. Filicince. Ferns. 



To the first of these three main divisions belong all those plants designated 

 Thallophytae on account of the absence of any specialisation of parts, such as 

 stem, leaves, &c., and from the comparatively simple form (Thallus) of the 

 individual. This section is subdivided into the two classes fungi and algae. 



The body of all the remaining plants, from the mosses upwards, shows, on 

 the other hand, a differentiation of parts into stem and leaf, and is generally 

 designated Connus, all the higher plants being therefore generally grouped under 

 the title Cormophytes. 



Of the seven cryptogamic classes, only one, the first and lowest (Fungi), 

 comes under consideration in Fermentation Physiology. In accordance with the 

 preceding scheme, these fungi are definable as : cryptogamic plants, devoid of 

 chlorophyll, roots, stems, leaves or vascular bundles ; or, expressed in a more 

 concise form : the fungi are thallous growths devoid of chlorophyll. 



23. Classification of the Fungi. 



The fungi are arranged, according to the individual mode of growth, into 

 two main groups, namely, Schizomycetes, or fission fungi, and Eumycetes, or higher 

 fungi. The latter consist in the main of thread-like cells, grow by acrogenesis, 

 form true branches, and reproduce by special organs called spores. Conversely, 

 the multplication of the (always unicellular) fission fungi is effected by sub- 

 division or fission, whence their name, so that we have the following scheme : 



p . (Schizomycetes: (Fission fungi). Fission. 

 u y 1 \Eumycetes : (Higher fungi). Acrogenous, Branching. 



No doubt many readers will miss from this classification a third sub-group, 

 viz., the Myxomycetes, or mucus fungi. In order to at once disarm any objection 

 on this score, we will here mention that the organisms in question have been 

 shown by recent researches to belong, not to the vegetable, but to the animal 

 kingdom, of which they constitute the lowest type of development. For this 

 reason modern systematology has applied to them the name bestowed by De 

 Bary, viz., Mycetozoa, animal fungi, or fungoid animals. 



24. Schizophytse. 



As their systematic juxtaposition would lead one to conclude, the fungi and 

 algse exhibit many traits in common, and, in fact, the only important character 

 by which they can be differentiated is the absence of chlorophyll in the first- 

 named. 



As will be readily understood, it is especially the lower and more simply 

 constructed species of algae that, apart from the characteristic difference just 

 mentioned, approximate closely to the fungi. This is particularly the case 

 with the fission algae or Diatomacece, which, with respect to their method of 

 reproduction by fission, bear no slight resemblance to the fission fungi. 



