THE CXENOCYTIG INDIVIDUAL 63 



where the usually free bacilli may be produced in what is 

 apparently ccenocytic or hyphal continuity. 



The Mucor Individual is all the product of gamete- 

 conjugation ; all the mycelia, asexual and sexual, which 

 result from an original zygospore. Each mycelium in direct 

 line of " descent " is, we presume, nearer to gamete- 

 formation than that preceding it, till finally some appear 

 which cannot produce spores but must produce gametes. 

 Similarly, the successive protoplasts of a hypha may be 

 regarded as successive " cell-stages " in the growth-cycle. 

 The growth-cycle runs on through the spores, which are but 

 links between successive mycelia. 



We might say that Ccenocytic Individuals of mould type 

 are, in contrast with Discontinuously Multicellular Individuals, 

 Discontinuously Mycelial ; that in place of discontinuous cells 

 or protoplasts the Individual is composed of discontinuous 

 protoplast-multiples. In such moulds as are septate (e.g. 

 Eurotium) we can recognise the multiplication of true Fila- 

 mentous continuity ; for whereas in Spirogyra we are dealing 

 with the serial continuity of single protoplasts enclosed 

 within walls, in Eurotium we have the serial continuity of 

 multiples of naked protoplasts enclosed within walls. The 

 Spirogyra filament is a series of cells, the Eurotium hypha 

 is a series of coenocytes. On the other hand, while Spirogyra 

 is a cell-colony, Eurotium is something more than a ccenocyte- 

 colony ; for the asexual cells of the Spirogyra series are 

 only temporarily arrested, whereas in Eurotium great numbers 

 of coenocytes remain permanently arrested as vegetative 

 supporting structure — the price of Continuity. 



Fai^e Tissue. 



In certain of the higher Fungi there is, within the 

 Individual, a multiplication of the lateral continuity of the 

 coenocyte into a higher form of continuity, the discrete 

 vegetative coenocytes being joined laterally together to form 

 the " false tissue " of the reproductive organs. The effect 

 is roughly what one would get by pressing together into 

 a compact mass a fungus mycelium, and there can be little 

 doubt that a physical compressing force was the factor at 

 work in the evolution of primitive false tissue, the result 

 showing a beautifully interwoven plan. 



