Treboux[250], in his work on organic acids, has also proved by experimental cultures with a large series of algae, including the gonidia of _Peltigera_, that these green plants in the absence of light and in pure cultures would grow and form carbohydrates if the culture medium contained a small percentage of organic acids. The acids he employed were combined with potassium and were thus rendered neutral or slightly alkaline; acetate of potash proved to be the most advantageous compound of any that was tested. Amino-acids and ammonia salts were added to provide the necessary nitrogen. Oxalic acid and other organic acids of varying composition are peculiarly abundant in lichen tissues and may be a source of carbon supply. Marshall Ward[251] has found calcium carbonate crystals in the lower air-containing tissues of _Strigula complanata_.
Treboux finally concluded from his researches that just as fungi can extract carbohydrates from many sources, so algae can secure their carbon supply in a variety of ways. He affirms that the metabolic activity of the alga in these cultural conditions is entirely normal, and the various cell-contents are formed as in the light. Whether, in this case, starch is formed directly from the acids or through a series of combinations has not been determined. Uhlir[252], with electric lighting, made successful cultures of _Nostoc_ isolated from Collemaceae on silicic acid, proving thereby that these gonidia do not require a rich nutriment. A certain definite humidity was however essential, and bacteria were never eliminated as they are associated with the gelatinous membranes of Nostocaceae.
_e._ NUTRITION WITHIN THE SYMBIOTIC PLANT. Culture experiments bearing more directly on the nutrition of lichens as a whole were carried out by F. Tobler[253]. He proved that the gonidia had undoubtedly drawn on the calcium oxalate secreted by the hyphae for their supply of carbon. In a culture medium of poplar-bark gelatine he grew hyphae of _Xanthoria parietina_, and noted an abundant deposit of oxalate crystals on their cell-walls. A piece of the lichen thallus including both symbionts and grown on a similar medium formed no crystals, and microscopic examination showed that crystals were likewise absent from the hyphae of the thallus that had grown normally on the tree, the inference being that the gonidia used them up as quickly as they were deposited. It must be remembered in this connection, however, that Zopf[254] has stated that where lichen acids are freely formed as, for instance, in _Xanthoria parietina_, there is always less formation and deposit of calcium oxalate crystals, which may partly account for their absence in the normal thallus so rich in parietin.