Evening star., 1938-10-26
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
Star Stan Correspondent


! CHAPEL HILL, N. c., Oct. GA
strange race of animal-plants, hitherto
hardly known to science, is being
studied by United States Department
Of Agriculture specialist.
They are voracious creatures which
start life and live as independent, free
moving animals until their food sup
ply is exhausted Then great hosts
OF them get together to form fruit
bearing plants which produce seeds
from which new animals arise.
The story of the Dichtyosteliace ceae.
as told to the National Academy of
Sciences. meeting here today, by DR..
Kenneth B. Raper OF Washington, who
has been trying to graft species of
them together. would have seemed
incredibly fantastic were it not for
the tiny size of the creatures-only
few ten-thousandths of an inch in
diameter and visible only under
powerful microscope. They are at
the plant-animal crossroads in evo-
luton, and, seemingly, unable to decide
"AAASAA way Why "aliU W SO, UtIldft
IN turn as animals and as plants.
At first they behave as protozoa,
t1niest of animals. Each individual
lives its own life moving freely by
the snakelike flowing of protoplasm'
mechanism common to so many mi
croscopic animals. and feeding very
greedily on tiny plants. These plants
are the bacteria, many of whom are
responsible for deadly human and
animal diseases. The bacteria are en-
quilted in the fluid-like bodies Of the
animals and completely digested. They
will eat almost any kind of bacteria
offered them. Mr. Raper says, in-
Guiding all the "cocci'' which cause
pneumonia, meningitis, gouorrhea and
the like, as we'll as the causative Or
ganisms of diphtheria, anthrax and
other fatal diseases. They have enor-
NOUS appetities and keep on eating
until there is hardly bit of bacteria
left.
Use in Medicines Suggested.
Their greediness for bacteria, prob
ably exceeding that Of any other
known organism, suggests a possible
future use in medicine and SANTA
tion. but, Mr.. Raper says, there is
no indication as to what road this use
will take.
During all this animal, free-feeding
stage the creatures are reproducing
rapidly by the customary protozoan
method of splitting in two, each half
becoming new, entirely independent
animal. But with the bacteria all
eaten, DR.. Raper says, the tiny crea-
lures call into play mechanisms of life
Of which science has as yet no compre-
hension.
Up to now they have been wander
ing at random. Some happen to be
placed so that they form a natural
cluster. From this cluster, it seems. go
forth mysterious lines of force which
draw in all the other animals in the
immediate neighborhood. These are
crowded together in single, compact
bunch composed Of millions of indi-
viduals. This bunch starts to move
like a single animal. Then it stops and
from it arises stalk, about a twenty
fifth of an inch in height-a giant tree
compared with the size Of any in
dividual animal. At the end OF this
stalk is formed fruit" This fruit
ripens and is filled with Spores" not
exactly seeds, but the germs from
which that low order of plants, the
fungi, reproduce themselves.
The stalk is toppled over by q
breath of wind or drop of rain, the
spores are released, and each one
changes into new animal. It Is
almost as fantastic as raising elephants
or tigers from seeds, except that the
can be seen only under q
microscope. The creatures live in
countless hordes, Mr.. Raper points
out, wherever there is decaying animal
or vegetable matter, signifying the
presence Of any kind Of bacteria. They
may be important members Of natures
sanitary force who keep
the hosts Of eath-dealing bacteria
within normal limits.
The whole life cycle lasts only three
or four days, 50 that generation after
can be watched under the
This makes them ideal
for the study Of genetics at the very