544 VITAL ACTIONS OF THE LOWER FUNGI. 



totally secondary matter that the assimilatory process 

 in this case runs its course without the aid of a chloro- 

 phyll apparatus, and that thus certain simple materials, 

 such as carbonic acid, cannot be utilised as nutrient 

 Tissue change materials. As in the case of the higher plants, so also in 

 funo-i 6 ( ^ ne lower fungi, a certain amount of energy is set free by 



these tissue changes, and this energy is employed for 

 the functions of these minute organisms, for their pro- 

 cesses of growth and movement, for the changes in their 

 tissue, and for the molecular processes. 



It is true that by the recognition of these essential 

 agreements between the tissue change and the develop- 

 ment of energy in the higher and lower plants the whole 

 of our insight into the biological processes of the lower 

 fungi are pretty nearly exhausted. More especially we 

 can scarcely at the present time form any quantitative 

 idea as to the relation between the destructive and the 

 assimilatory tissue change, how far the assimilation and 

 the formation of new protoplasm is as a rule in excess, 

 or what amount of the nutrient material is taken up to 

 serve for the destructive tissue change. Hence in most 

 matters provisional hypotheses as to the tissue change 

 and development of energy in the lower fungi must take 

 the place of facts and certain results. 



Differences as There is only one difference between the bacteria and 

 Xrnt r her Vith tlie higher plants to which we need draw attention, 

 plants in While the activity of the protoplasm, the Ultra-molecular 

 nec^ssityi'or respiration, and the respiration by means of oxygen, with 

 oxygen. their development of energy and the assimilation of very 



various kinds of nutrient materials, are common not 

 only to the higher plants but also to the fungi, there is a 

 marked difference with regard to their relation to oxygen. 

 As has been mentioned, the higher plants cannot be 

 deprived of oxygen for lengthy periods without injury, 

 because it is only by means of the process of oxidation 

 that a sufficient amount of energy is produced; many of 

 the lower plants, however, can live and multiply for a 

 long time without the presence of oxygen. In this case 

 the small amount of energy which is furnished by the intra- 

 molecular respiration either suffices for the whole of the 



