158 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



difficult to reconcile with the views of those who do 

 not accept this legitimate interpretation. 



Some of the bodies found were partly like unicellular 

 Algae, and partly like ordinary Torulae. They exhibited 

 only the faintest green tint, and yet the general cha- 

 racter of the corpuscles was less like Tortile than that 

 of some forms of Protococcus. Associated with them 

 also was a filament of an algoid character. We have 

 already pointed out the very gradual nature of the 

 transitions which exist between Fungi and Algae, by 

 means of the various forms of Leptothrtx and Oscilla- 

 torta filaments, to say nothing of other intermediate 

 forms, such as Achlya, Saprolegnia, and similar types. 

 The transitions between the Mucedine<e and Leptothrtx 

 are as gradual and unbroken, as those which exist 

 between Leptothrtx and the colourless Oscillatori<e. 

 The latter develop a green colour in an equally 

 gradual manner, and insensibly take on characters 

 which affiliate them to the other filamentous Algae. 

 And now our experiments tend to show, definitely, 

 that there is no radical difference between Fungi 

 and Algae, but that the evolution of the one or the 

 other is regulated in part by the mere presence or 

 absence of certain constituents. Where no iron is 

 present new-born specks of living matter may develop 

 into Bacteria or Torul<e and gradually unfold into fungus- 

 forms; but if iron be present such new-born specks 

 may incorporate this element, develop green proto- 

 plasm, and assume the form of Protococcus, with ten- 



