524 
ON THE NATURE OF ENTOZOOID ORGANISMS. 
animals in an unhealthy or in an apparently healthy condition, and with describing 
their minute structure. Dr. Cobbold, who has devoted so much time and labour to the 
study of the creatures inhabiting the intestines of animals, is decidedly of opinion that 
the organisms of which we have just spoken are not animals, but is inclined to refer 
them to the vegetable kingdom, in t the belief that they are sacs of Psorospermice , if these 
bodies are really Algse, as Bobin supposes. No true Alga, however, has ever been found 
in the tissues of animals, all the supposed species which have been described, including 
fish mildew, and its allies, being decidedly referable to Fungi. 
We have already adverted to a notion which was put forth last autumn, of a possible 
connection between the cattle plague and the red rust which was so prevalent. Last 
autumn was however by no means exceptional, for we have frequently seen the grass as 
yellow with the rust-spots, and have heard conjectures, as to the possibility of its causing 
cancer and other complaints to which stock of various kinds are subject. There is not, 
however, a particle of evidence to show that any of the truly parasitic leaf fungi are 
capable of establishing themselves in animal tissues. An anonymous correspondent in 
the same number of the ‘ Medical Times,’ who styles himself a provincial physician, 
while hinting at the possible connection between rust and rinderpest, says distinctly that 
though the spores could be readily enough traced in the mucus of the air-passages of 
the dead animals, nothing further confirmatory of the notion could be elicited, or, in 
other words, there was no evidence of these bodies having germinated and penetrated 
the subjacent tissues. 
There are, however, fungi which luxuriate in animal tissues, though they are not 
always confined to them. The fungi which attack the caterpillars of Hepinlus virescens 
in New Zealand, and those of various moths and insects in other parts of the world, not 
excepting our own island, belonging to the curious tribe of Sphceriacei , are a familiar 
example of fungi addicted to the animal kingdom, specimens being often brought home 
from our southern colonies as curiosities. It is pretty certain that many of these attack 
the larvae while living. But it is more especially different kinds of moulds which com¬ 
mit cruel ravages on living animals. The disease which is the scourge of silkworms 
arises from the attack of a very beautiful mould, Botryosporium Bassianum, which is 
probably identical with B. diffusum, a species extremely common on decayed stems of 
herbaceous plants, and there are several fungi of the same group which seem very in¬ 
different as to their place of growth, and flourish on living animal tissues quite as readily 
as on decayed vegetables. We must not omit, moreover, the fungi to which some cu¬ 
taneous diseases in man are due, or the fish-moulds which are the pests of the aquarium. 
Now it is very possible that the spores of any of these might be taken either into the 
lungs with the air we breathe, into the stomach with the water, or into the pores of the 
skin, and at length establish thomselves in various parts of the body. The common 
occurrence of moulds in the urine, Sarcina in the stomach, and Penicillium in the air- 
passages, supplies instances familiar to every one who has paid the slightest attention to 
the subject. It is not therefore impossible that the organisms in question may really be 
a condition of some fungus, though from the numerous instances in which they have 
been found, where the rinderpest was not in question, there is no reason to believe that 
they are the cause of the disease, though they may be a consequence, from the diseased 
tissues affording a peculiarly favourable nidus for the development of the mould. 
The ciliated surface, were it really shown that the processes are vibratile as those on 
the organs of some Alyce, would be opposed to this notion, but they may be only of the 
same nature as those which occur on the spores of some truffles, and other fungi. The 
walls of the sac should be tested to determine whether they are composed of cellulose, 
though this would not be absolutely decisive, as cellulose occurs in some undoubted 
animals, as for example in Ascidia. Dr. Beale has tried to obtain a further development, 
and it is very desirable that further attempts should be made in this direction, those 
specimens being chosen in which the bodies lie freely amongst the muscular fibres. It 
is curious, however, that at present, so far as the rinderpest is concerned, it is only in the 
striated fibres of the voluntary muscles and in those of the heart, which are similar in 
structure, that they have at present occurred, and not in the involuntary non-striated 
muscular tissue, whose position and structure would seem better calculated for their 
development. The matter is, however, in every point of view worthy of deep investiga¬ 
tion, and it is quite as interesting to the botanist as to the zoologist, and demands the 
attention of all who regard either animal or vegetable pathology.— The Gardeners 
Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette. 
