3°6 
A. E. Lechmere 
A small piece of mycelium from one of the dead fish was then 
teased off with needles and washed in sterile distilled water to free 
it from some of the bacteria and infusoria which were so abundant 
on the specimens taken from the pond. The mycelium was then 
transferred to the centre of one of the sterile dishes and left till 
next day when a considerable growth was found to have taken 
place, forming a circular patch 1^ inches in diameter. The extreme 
end of this mycelium was then removed, at first by cutting with a 
scissors sterilized in absolute alcohol, but later it was found better 
to use a stout piece of platinum wire in a glass rod, the wire being 
bent at right angles for about one-eighth of an inch at the end. 
This small implement was found to be very efficient. It could 
easily be sterilized by passing through a flame, and it did not leave 
clean cut ends on the hyphae as in the case of the scissors, but 
severed them by pressure. 
In spite of all precautions the bacterial growth was very rapid, 
owing perhaps to the rather warm temperature of the room, which 
was probably near the optimum for the bacteria. If the cultures 
could have been kept at a lower temperature the rate of growth of 
the bacteria would have been much slower in proportion to that of 
the fungus. After two weeks of culture by this method, cultures 
were obtained free from all bacteria. The mycelium itself produces 
a decomposition of the gelatine due to the presence of proteoclastic 
enzymes in the hyphae, and after five days’ growth complete 
liquefaction results. The mycelium formed on the plates was 
entirely vegetative, consisting of slender branched unicellular 
coenocytic hyphae. When once obtained pure it was found suf¬ 
ficient, for the retention of the stock, to start a new culture every 
other day. 
In order to study the methods of reproduction cultures were 
made on small pieces of white of egg, hard boiled pieces of fish 
or the skin of fish, pieces of beef, and on dead flies, all sterilized in 
test tubes in the usual way. With egg, fish and beef, the method 
of culture was as follows :—A small piece of the medium was 
placed in a sterilized Petri dish, then a tube of sterile distilled 
water added. Then a small piece of mycelium from a culture of 
beef-extract gelatine two days’ old was removed with the platinum 
hook and placed on or near the medium in the Petri dish. After 
an interval of one day a fringe of hyphae was found all round the 
medium. With flies the cultures were made in small sterilized 
