Origin of Fungus-germs and Monads. 213 



examined the contents of tlie pot. It was perfectly plain, 

 indeed, that in the thousands of small Zoogloea masses under- 

 going this change, one had to do with no process of infection. 

 It w^as clear that the Zoogloea masses were becoming or- 

 ganized simultaneously throughout their substance, and that 

 all the stages of the development of the Fungus-germs into 

 which they were being transformed could be more or less 

 plainly traced, the changes in this case taking place without 

 any antecedent minute segmentation of the masses. I in- 

 vited ]\Ir. Massee to come and examine these specimens for 

 himself, but he did not do so, and nevertheless subsequently 

 thought proper to write the letter already referred to, which 

 appeared in 'Nature,' and was answered in a subsequent 

 issue (January 19, 1905, p. 272). 



A similar transformation of the Zoogloea masses without 

 antecedent segmentation has been seen in other cases, though 

 in none of them have I been able to make out the actual 

 stages of the transformation anything like so plainly as in 

 the specimens represented in iig. 3. In one of the cases 

 recently seen, in which the specimens were also taken from 

 a closed pot, the Zoogloea masses as a whole had previously 

 assumed a pale brown tint, and rather large Fungus-germs 

 were formed from their substance, such as are shown in 

 fig. i, A (x700). But, again, no hypha of any kind Avas 

 ever seen among the contents taken from this pot. 



AVhere a ceitain amount of segmentation has occurred in 

 the Zoogloea mass before the brown colour is assumed (as in 

 fig. 2, A, in which the constituent bacteria are still distinct), 

 these brown segments subsequently become resolved into 

 Fungus-germs, as may be seen in fig. 4, B. Such brown 

 Fungus-germs soon assume more definite contours as in A, 

 and they may occasionally, but very rarely, be seen to give 

 rise to hyphse. 



As intimated in niy ])revi(ius communication to ' Nature,' 

 there are various modes in which Fungus-germs originate from 

 the Zoogloea masses. Still these difl'erent modes are only 

 comparatively unimportant variations, dependent upon the 

 different states of the Zoogloea masses at the time when the 

 actual transformations take place. The principal variations 

 seem to be these : — 



(a) Zoogloea entire and uncoloured ; organization through- 

 out, and Fungus-germs when forming becoming brown, as in 

 fig. 3. 



{h) Zoogloea entire, but assuming a brown colour before 

 the transformation into Fungus-germs occurs, as in fig. 2, D, 

 and fig. 4, A. 



Ann. dt Mag. N. Uist. Ser. 7. Vol. xv. 15 



