xvili] MOULD-FUNGI 491 



later a swelling appeared on the punctured spot, and after a 

 fortnight a tumour of the size of a filbert could be distinctly 

 felt. After eighteen days an incision was made into the 

 tumour, and the examination of the scanty pus and the 

 tissue of the tumour revealed the presence of numerous 

 yellow granules — actinomyces. Also the fragment of the 

 awn was removed from the interior of the tumour, and 

 on examining it under the microscope was found covered 

 with clumps of actinomyces. So that from all this the con- 

 clusion appears justified that actinomyces is a fungus having 

 its habitat on cerealia, and with and by them is introduced 

 into cattle and man. 



As mentioned above, the tumours and abscesses occurring 

 in one or the other organ contain peculiar minute granules 

 and clumps, visible already to the unaided eye, generally of 

 a yellowish, occasionally of a yellow-greenish tint. Under 

 the microscope they appear made up of a central mass of 

 fine granules, or of a distinct trellis-work of fine branched 

 threads ; next is a zone of coarser granules, which granules 

 do not look unlike cocci ; but when this or the central zone 

 is teased out it can be shown that the granules are not really 

 granules, but in reality are densely aggregated and twisted 

 branched fine fibres, the " granules " being only due to 

 optical sections of the fibres ; at the periphery of the mass 

 are glistening densely and radially aggregated flask-shaped 

 or club shaped bodies called the " clubs " (Fig. 198). The" 

 central mass is occasionally found in a state of calcification : 

 this is not seldom the case in cattle. 



That these clubs are an important and characteristic 

 feature in the morphology of the fungus is shown by the 

 name of ray fungus and by the fact that, what is commonly 

 observed — at any rate in cattle it is common — all the actino- 

 myces nodules and abscesses contain one or more central 



