~ ro) 
’ 
“ 
254 THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE 
incubator—where, however, they would also be 
exposed to a much higher temperature. 
In the next plate organisms of a very unusual 
character are shown, which were found in a BB 
solution that had been in the incubator for about 
fourteen days. By that time it, and the deposit 
contained therein, had assumed a red-brown colour, 
instead of being, as usual, of a pale yellowish tint. 
From being slightly alkaline, too, the fluid had 
become distinctly acid. In the granular matter of 
the flakes there were a number of groups of free 
Micrococci, but mixed with them were others 
contained in distinct loculi. In their early stages 
these bodies are shown in Plate III., Fig. 9, A and 
B. In A a single loculus is shown, stained with 
eosin and containing several Cocci; while in B 
three of the loculi, unstained, are to be seen. 
Ultimately they go on to the production of large 
sponge-like masses, one of which is represented 
in Fig. 8. In these large masses the walls of the 
loculi are often very indistinct, and they tend to 
disappear, as may also be seen from Fig. Io. 
In this latter specimen another very unusual 
character is found—that is, the development from 
the Cocci of long and generally much twisted 
threads. This development of threads sometimes 
occurs from the Cocci contained in single loculi, an 
example of which is shown in the stained specimen 
represented in Fig. 9, C, from which two threads are 
issuing. | 
In the next chapter I shall have to show loculated 
Micrococci of the same kind, which had been taken 
