494 MICRO-ORGANISMS AND DISEASE [chap. 



further, the above granules of the second zone as indicating 

 a coccus phase of the threads, and for this reason consider 

 the ray fungus as belonging to the species of cladothrix, a 

 polymorphous fungus, in which the threads may break up 

 into or develop from cocci and shorter or longer rods or 

 bacilli. Now, I quite agree with Crookshank in not accept- 

 ing this view, for I find constantly in actinomycosis of cattle 

 some of the smaller, i.e. younger, tumours contain fine clubs 

 in isolated examples or in small groups, without any fila- 

 mentous or granular centre ; in the preparations stained 

 successfully as above I find appearances which place me in 

 full agreement with Crookshank {Tra7isactions of the Med. 

 Chir. Soc, 1889) : single clubs very conspicuous by their 

 deep red staining attached to a short single or branched 

 stalk free or enclosed within a nucleated cell. Further, 

 there is, free or enclosed within a larger mass of protoplasm, 

 a small homogeneous mass from which are budding out 

 two, three, or four clubs of different lengths and with very 

 short stalks, these structures being stained bright pink stand 

 out very conspicuously from the blue ground. Further, I 

 find spherical or oval globules recognisable by their deep 

 pink staining becoming constricted off from the free end of 

 the clubs. Putting these features together there can be no 

 difficulty in recognising a striking likeness between the ray 

 fungus and a mycelial fungus : the fine branched threads 

 being the mycelium, the clubs being the growing ends of the 

 hyphse, such as are common to most hyphomycetes ; these 

 clubs, with their power of sprouting and giving off conidia 

 (the above spherical or oval globules), would render this 

 view easily intelligible. Further, the central part is the 

 only part which in any way can be said to represent the 

 part which is actually degenerating, since it often contains 

 lime deposits. This view of considering the clubs as the 



