Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany. Douglas Houghton Campbell
any animal, but would be at once placed with plants. In one common form (Trichia) these are round or pear-shaped bodies of a yellow color, and about as big as a pin head (Fig. 5, D), occurring in groups on rotten logs in damp woods. Others are stalked (Arcyria, Stemonitis) (Fig. 5, J, K), and of various colors—red, brown, etc. The outer part of the structure is a more or less firm wall, which breaks when ripe, discharging a powdery mass, mixed in most forms with very fine fibres.
When strongly magnified the fine dust is found to be made up of innumerable small cells with thick walls, marked with ridges or processes which differ much in different species. The fibres also differ much in different genera. Sometimes they are simple, hair-like threads; in others they are hollow tubes with spiral thickenings, often very regularly placed, running around their walls.
The spores may sometimes be made to germinate by placing them in a drop of water, and allowing them to remain in a warm place for about twenty-four hours. If the experiment has been successful, at the end of this time the spore membrane will have burst, and the contents escaped in the form of a naked mass of protoplasm (Zoöspore) with a nucleus, and often showing a vacuole (Fig. 5, v), that alternately becomes much distended, and then disappears entirely. On first escaping it is usually provided with a long, whip-like filament of protoplasm, which is in active movement, and by means of which the cell swims actively through the water (Fig. 5, I i). Sometimes such a cell will be seen to divide into two, the process taking but a short time, so that the numbers of these cells under favorable conditions may become very large. After a time the lash is withdrawn, and the cell assumes much the form of a small amœba (I ii).
The succeeding stages are difficult to follow. After repeatedly dividing, a large number of these amœba-like cells run together, coalescing when they come in contact, and forming a mass of protoplasm that grows, and finally assumes the form from which it started.
Of the common forms of slime moulds the species of Trichia (Figs. D, I) and Physarum are, perhaps, the best for studying the germination, as the spores are larger than in most other forms, and germinate more readily. The experiment is apt to be most successful if the spores are sown in a drop of water in which has been infused some vegetable matter, such as a bit of rotten wood, boiling thoroughly to kill all germs. A drop of this fluid should be placed on a perfectly clean cover glass, which it is well to pass once or twice through a flame, and the spores transferred to this drop with a needle previously heated. By these precautions foreign germs will be avoided, which otherwise may interfere seriously with the growth of the young slime moulds. After sowing the spores in the drop of culture fluid, the whole should be inverted over a so-called “moist chamber.” This is simply a square of thick blotting paper, in which an opening is cut small enough to be entirely covered by the cover glass, but large enough so that the drop in the centre of the cover glass will not touch the sides of the chamber, but will hang suspended clear in it. The blotting paper should be soaked thoroughly in pure water (distilled water is preferable), and then placed on a slide, covering carefully with the cover glass with the suspended drop of fluid containing the spores. The whole should be kept under cover so as to prevent loss of water by evaporation. By this method the spores may be examined conveniently without disturbing them, and the whole may be kept as long as desired, so long as the blotting paper is kept wet, so as to prevent the suspended drop from drying up.
Class II.—Schizophytes.
The Schizophytes are very small plants, though not infrequently occurring in masses of considerable size. They are among the commonest of all plants, and are found everywhere. They multiply almost entirely by simple transverse division, or splitting of the cells, whence their name. There are two pretty well-marked orders—the blue-green slimes (Cyanophyceæ) and the bacteria (Schizomycetes). They are distinguished, primarily, by the first (with a very few exceptions) containing chlorophyll (leaf-green), which is entirely absent from nearly all of the latter.
The blue-green slimes: These are, with few exceptions, green plants of simple structure, but possessing, in addition to the ordinary green pigment (chlorophyll, or leaf-green), another coloring matter, soluble in water, and usually blue in color, though sometimes yellowish or red.
Fig. 6.—Blue-green slime (Oscillaria). A, mass of filaments of the natural size. B, single filament, × 300. C, a piece of a filament that has become separated. s, sheath, × 300.
As a representative of the group, we will select one of the commonest forms (Oscillaria), known sometimes as green slime, from forming a dark blue-green or blackish slimy coat over the mud at the bottom of stagnant or sluggish water, in watering troughs, on damp rocks, or even on moist earth. A search in the places mentioned can hardly fail to secure plenty of specimens for study. If a bit of the slimy mass is transferred to a china dish, or placed with considerable water on a piece of stiff paper, after a short time the edge of the mass will show numerous extremely fine filaments of a dark blue-green color, radiating in all directions from the mass (Fig. 6, a). The filaments are the individual plants, and possess considerable power of motion, as is shown by letting the mass remain undisturbed for a day or two, at the end of which time they will have formed a thin film over the surface of the vessel in which they are kept; and the radiating arrangement of the filaments can then be plainly seen.
If the mass is allowed to dry on the paper, it often leaves a bright blue stain, due to the blue pigment in the cells of the filament. This blue color can also be extracted by pulverizing a quantity of the dried plants, and pouring water over them, the water soon becoming tinged with a decided blue. If now the water containing the blue pigment is filtered, and the residue treated with alcohol, the latter will extract the chlorophyll, becoming colored of a yellow-green.
The microscope shows that the filaments of which the mass is composed (Fig. 6, B) are single rows of short cylindrical cells of uniform diameter, except at the end of the filament, where they usually become somewhat smaller, so that the tip is more or less distinctly pointed. The protoplasm of the cells has a few small granules scattered through it, and is colored uniformly of a pale blue-green. No nucleus can be seen.
If the filament is broken, there may generally be detected a delicate, colorless sheath that surrounds it, and extends beyond the end cells (Fig. 6, c). The filament increases in length by the individual cells undergoing division, this always taking place at right angles to the axis of the filament. New filaments are produced simply by the older ones breaking into a number of pieces, each of which rapidly grows to full size.
The name “oscillaria” arises from the peculiar oscillating or swinging movements that the plant exhibits. The most marked movement is a swaying from side to side, combined with a rotary motion of the free ends of the filaments, which are often twisted together like the strands of a rope. If the filaments are entirely free, they may often be observed to move forward with a slow, creeping movement. Just how these movements are caused is still a matter of controversy.
The lowest of the Cyanophyceæ are strictly single-celled, separating as soon as formed, but cohering usually in masses or colonies by means of a thick mucilaginous substance that surrounds them (Fig. 7, D).
The higher ones are filaments, in which there may be considerable differentiation. These often occur in masses of considerable size, forming jelly-like lumps, which may be soft or quite firm (Fig. 7,