NON-FILAMENTOUS AQUATIC FUNGI
35
collected data on these creatures and then, along with those described
from other places, brought them together in his now classic, monumental
treatment on 'Aquatic Phycomycetes' (Sparrow, 1960). Described
therein, and waiting to be exploited, are countless one- and two-celled
microbes; much larger than bacteria, yet small enough to handle by
standard bacteriological techniques, they possess sufficient internal and
external heterogeneity of structure to please the most ardent lover of
form and the visible vicissitudes entailed in its genesis. As many of us
who have succumbed to their lure can testify, once one has learned to
'handle' them—for they have distinct personalities of their own—the
rewards, both scientific and aesthetic, can be, to say the very least, most
satisfying. In the past, however, most students of these microphytes
were not inclined, apparently, to take advantage of certain attributes
that they had to offer.
Perhaps there have been more than a few water-mouldologists who
foresaw the intrinsic beauty and the great utility of non-filamentous
aquatic fungi for experimental studies of biological phenomena. But
certainly, not many of them recognized that to exploit these creatures
for this purpose, it would be essential to capture them, remove them
from their ecological niche, eliminate all liaison with other living things,
and then confine them in the isolation of the laboratory. In recent years,
some two dozen (out of an almost countless number; see Sparrow, 1960)
non-filamentous, non-rhizomycelialf water-fungi have been isolated in
pure culture (see Emerson, 1950, 1958; lately a few more have been
added to the list).
But finally, among those who made the effort and succeeded in
isolating these aquatic creatures, few indeed went on to take advantage
of the situation ; among those who did, the name of Ralph Emerson
stands out. Through his own assiduous pursuits, his strong dedication
to perfection, and his truly broad and biological approach to biological
phenomena, he instilled in those about him an appreciation of the virtue
of descriptive stages, and then the need to go beyond this ; to study and
to analyse the living, growing thing and eventually to synthesize
therefrom. Over the past two decades, his work together with that of his
students and in turn their students, numerous non-filamentous members
of the Chytridiales and Blastocladiales have been brought into pure
f We are not overlooking the older (citations in Cantino, 1955; Cantino and Turian,
1959) nor the newest studies of polycentric, rhizomycelial chytrids. In particular, much
may stem from the excellent start that has been made towards understanding the
fruiting behaviour and nutrition of Cladochytrium replicatum (Willoughby, 1962),
something of its chemical composition (Fuller and Tavares, 1960), and the factors which
affect this (Goldstein, 1960a). Nowakowskiella, too, will bear watching (Goldstein, 1961).
However, bound by limitations on space, and with the customary authors' prerogative at
our disposal, we shall limit our attention to non-mycelial, uniflagellated, monocentric
water-fungi.
35
collected data on these creatures and then, along with those described
from other places, brought them together in his now classic, monumental
treatment on 'Aquatic Phycomycetes' (Sparrow, 1960). Described
therein, and waiting to be exploited, are countless one- and two-celled
microbes; much larger than bacteria, yet small enough to handle by
standard bacteriological techniques, they possess sufficient internal and
external heterogeneity of structure to please the most ardent lover of
form and the visible vicissitudes entailed in its genesis. As many of us
who have succumbed to their lure can testify, once one has learned to
'handle' them—for they have distinct personalities of their own—the
rewards, both scientific and aesthetic, can be, to say the very least, most
satisfying. In the past, however, most students of these microphytes
were not inclined, apparently, to take advantage of certain attributes
that they had to offer.
Perhaps there have been more than a few water-mouldologists who
foresaw the intrinsic beauty and the great utility of non-filamentous
aquatic fungi for experimental studies of biological phenomena. But
certainly, not many of them recognized that to exploit these creatures
for this purpose, it would be essential to capture them, remove them
from their ecological niche, eliminate all liaison with other living things,
and then confine them in the isolation of the laboratory. In recent years,
some two dozen (out of an almost countless number; see Sparrow, 1960)
non-filamentous, non-rhizomycelialf water-fungi have been isolated in
pure culture (see Emerson, 1950, 1958; lately a few more have been
added to the list).
But finally, among those who made the effort and succeeded in
isolating these aquatic creatures, few indeed went on to take advantage
of the situation ; among those who did, the name of Ralph Emerson
stands out. Through his own assiduous pursuits, his strong dedication
to perfection, and his truly broad and biological approach to biological
phenomena, he instilled in those about him an appreciation of the virtue
of descriptive stages, and then the need to go beyond this ; to study and
to analyse the living, growing thing and eventually to synthesize
therefrom. Over the past two decades, his work together with that of his
students and in turn their students, numerous non-filamentous members
of the Chytridiales and Blastocladiales have been brought into pure
f We are not overlooking the older (citations in Cantino, 1955; Cantino and Turian,
1959) nor the newest studies of polycentric, rhizomycelial chytrids. In particular, much
may stem from the excellent start that has been made towards understanding the
fruiting behaviour and nutrition of Cladochytrium replicatum (Willoughby, 1962),
something of its chemical composition (Fuller and Tavares, 1960), and the factors which
affect this (Goldstein, 1960a). Nowakowskiella, too, will bear watching (Goldstein, 1961).
However, bound by limitations on space, and with the customary authors' prerogative at
our disposal, we shall limit our attention to non-mycelial, uniflagellated, monocentric
water-fungi.