Cellular Plants. 245 



Bastian claims the transitions from fungi ( without chlorophyl ) to 

 algae ( possessing chlorophyl ) to be real and gradual. Out of 200 ex- 

 periments with solutions in flasks, five furnished green tinted organisms. 

 These he reckoned as being one of the forms of Protococcus (Alga), while 

 from the same infusion were also derived examples of Toruhe. The 

 mixture contained some salts of iron and was exposed to sunlight. 

 "Our experiments tend to show definitely that there is no radical differ- 

 ence 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 Torulae, and gradually unfold into fungus 

 forms, but if iron be present such new-born specks may incorporate this 

 element, develop green protoplasm, and assume the form of Protococcus, 

 with tendencies which may enable it ultimately to unfold into one or 

 the other of the filamentous Algae.'' 1 



While the Fungi thus run into the Algae in one direction, they grade 

 into the Lichens in another. Professor Lindley and Dr. Lindsay, us 

 well as Rev. M. J. Berkeley, are quoted as saying that there is no 

 definite boundary between the two, and there is a large group in which 

 characteristics of both are so blended that their relationships cannot be 

 exclusively established. Furthermore, Algae and Lichens grade into 

 and develop into each other in the most complicated and bewildering 

 manner. < ' Green corpuscles ( gonidia ) thrown off from a single Lichen 

 have been seen by Dr. Hicks to assume the forms and mode of growth 

 characteristic of no less than twentj^-three supposed species of Algae. 

 On the other hand, gonidia thrown off from an Alga or from a Moss are 

 capable of going through any similar number of modes of growth, ac- 

 cording as the conditions to which they are subjected undergo varia- 

 tions. " As a rule heat and drouth favor development into Lichens, 

 while dampness appears to direct the development of some into Algae, 

 and others into different forms of Mosses. 



Variability among the lowest animal forms is as common as with the 

 vegetables. Difference in the infusions from which they are derived, 

 in quantity, quality or temperature, causes difference in the organisms. 

 This is the testimony of all naturalists in these specialties. " M. 

 Pouchet, moreover, says he has continually seen new forms arise in solu- 

 tions which never again presented themselves to his observation even in 

 the course of j'ears. " He says, u In a maceration of some fragments 

 of human bone which I had brought from the Catacombs of Thebes, and 

 which had remained three months in water, I saw the greater number of 

 the Vorticellae, of our French fauna, present themselves at once, and in 



1 The figure which iron appears to cut in the distinctions hetween the Fungus and the 

 Alga, recall its influence in the differentiation of /<>/ ln>m ir/ntc blood corpuscles. 



