TTJLASTfE, SELECTA rUNaORUM CARPOLOGIA. 363 



follows at p. 380 of the Summa Vegetabiliuin Scandinavise, " Hac 

 differentia rite perspecta, nobilissima Pyrenomycetiun genera seque 

 perspicua evadimt, ac maxime naturalia, et ignoscant precor hodierni 

 mycologici, qui omnem vim in subtilissimis notis ponunt, hgec omni- 

 bus vegetationis et morplioseos rationibus congrua genera, ut prime 

 obtutu mox recognoscantur, ex sporarum et ascorum differentiis, 

 mihi minime ignaro, impossibile fuisse divellere." We tbink, how- 

 ever, that the comparison at p. 24 of Fries' observations in the Elen- 

 chus Fungorum, with the later views of Fresenius and de Notaris 

 is hardly fair upon the former. It should be remembered that the 

 2nd volume of the Elenehus was published 20 years at least before 

 the works of Freseuius and de Notaris, and the particular passage 

 alluded to is so caut' >usly worded that it could not be objected to at 

 the present day. " Quatenus sporidia septata, etc., ad genera dis- 

 tinguenda sufficiant, dubium sane videatur, cum hie character a 

 mrdtis generibus iisque naturalissimis vilipendatur." In fact, so far 

 as regards the Sphseriacei, which is the family to which Fresenius and 

 de Notaris specially allude, the remarks of the latter writer seem to 

 go too far. That the shape and structure of the sporidia are of im- 

 mense importance in the distinction of species no one wiU deny, but 

 the value of these characters as generic distinctions is far less mani- 

 fest. Those genera of the Sphseriacei, which might be defined by 

 their sporidia, exliibit other features by which, mthout any assist- 

 ance from the fruit, they might be separated from their nearest 

 allies. 



In the fifth chapter, mention is made of a point which is stiU in 

 dispute with regard to those spores which mycologists call basidio- 

 sporous. If we understand this question rightly, the MM. Tu- 

 lasne are of opinion that the sterigmata or stalks of these spores are 

 simply prolongations of the basidial cell, the spore itself being the 

 swollen apex of the sterigma cut off by a septum from the lower por- 

 tion, whereas, according to the views of Schacht and Hoffmann, the 

 spore is formed within the dilated apex of the sterigma, as in a true 

 ascus, the ascus being adnate to the spore. The question is of some 

 systematic importance,* because if Schacht and Hoffmann are right, 

 the fructification of the basidiosporous fungi differs from that of the 

 ascigerous ones only in the fact of the ascus being adnate to the 

 spore. The determination of the question would seem to be capable 

 of solution if we could ascertain the number of membranes of which 

 the spore consists. Although it would be difficult, if not impossible, 

 to do this in most species, on account of the small size of the 

 spores, it might perhaps be effected with the assistance of proper 

 chemical reagents in some of the large-spored Coprini. If the views 

 of the MM. Tulasne be correct, the spore would have two membranes 

 only, whereas, if Schacht and Hoffmann are right, there must be four 



* IfDeBary's obsei'vations on Agaricus mcllcus (Botanische Zeitung, Dec. 2, 

 1859), are correct, normal asci may exist in the same plant with normal basiUia. 

 N. H. R.— 1862. 2 C 



