APPENDIX A. ix 



had no appreciable thickness, and appeared to be only the 

 slightly condensed outer layer of the protoplasm of which it 

 was composed. Here and there it appeared that the spiral 

 filament gradually merged into that presenting the more ordi- 

 nary mycelial character. On this subject, however, I unfor- 

 tunately cannot speak with absolute certainty, because of the 

 difficulty experienced in accurately tracing any one portion 

 of the filament. On two occasions, moreover, sporangium- 

 like bodies have been found emerging from amidst the 

 filaments, and apparently in connection with them. The 

 nature of these bodies, also, must still be considered as 

 very doubtful. They may be mere plate-like expansions 



Fig. d. 

 Sporangium-like body amidst mass of Spiral Fibre. ( X 600.) 



similar to those represented in Figs, a and e. But never- 

 theless, their existence, the alterations in appearance of the 

 fibres here and there, and the apparent continuity of these 

 with undoubted mycelial filaments, makes it still impossible to 

 come to a final and satisfactory decision as to the real nature 

 of the spiral fibres \ 



Another subject now claims our consideration. Living 

 matter being the result of a chemical combination of a 



1 In connection with this subject the observations of M. Trcul 

 (' Comptes Rendus,' t. Ixi. p. 435) must not be forgotten. He seems to 

 have actually observed the more or less immediate passage of a statical 

 into a dynamical aggregate (Amylobacter). The statements and obser- 

 vations of such an observer should not be lightly set aside or ignored. 



