366 EEVTEWS. 



elated by those who have attempted to trace the two forms of fruit 

 from the same mycelium. The late Professor Henfrey had com- 

 menced some observations on the subject not long before his lamented 

 decease, and was disposed to doubt the correctness of De Bary's con- 

 clusions. We find, however, that the MM. Tulasne appear satisfied 

 upon the point, for they say (note 2, p. 63), "Novissimis his tempo- 

 ribus propria experientia percepimus mira ilia ab oculatissimo 

 Baryo observata cum vero ni fallimus quadrare." They add that 

 the conidiiferous fruit varies to a great extent, so much so as to 

 pass from the form of Aspergillus glaucus to that of JPenicilUum 

 glaucum. 



In connection with the question of the double fi'uctification of 

 moulds, we find some important remarks upon the Genus Azygites 

 of Fries. The authors have observed that the flocci produce simple 

 or forked stems, each surmounted by a whitish vesicle filled with 

 minute spores, and that upon the same mycelium fruit occurs of a 

 more imposing appearance, globose, pyriform, or elongated and lage- 

 riform in shape, consisting of a dark membrane, which is sometimes 

 very minutely tuberculate, and which encloses a number of dark 

 spherical spores. " His omnibus perpensis (they add), nonne vide- 

 bitur vesicxilam solitam unde fimgilli mucorini dicti principem suam 

 notam hactenug traxerunt minoris esse dignitatis quam vulgo sesti- 

 matur ?" 



This question, which, if answered in the affirmative, involves the 

 abolitioti of the order of Physomycetes, must be left for the consi- 

 deration of mycologists, but it may be observed that the fact of the 

 occurrence of two sorts of vesicles containing different kinds of 

 sporidia has not escaped the notice of Mr. Berkeley, who, neverthe- 

 less, retains the order which was first established by himself.* 



The eighth chapter of the work is devoted to the consideration 

 of the mode of germination of the spores of fungi and the different 

 kinds of mycelium. It is strange that after the niunbers of observa- 

 tions which have been made upon germination, it should still be a 

 disputed question whether that process takes place by extension of 

 the outer membrane of the spore, or by the protrusion of the inner 

 one. Gaertuer, Eichard, Ehi-enberg, Corda, Schmitz and Schacht 

 maintained the former view, but notwithstanding this array of au- 

 thorities, the MM. Tulasne remark, " Suadet autem analogia germen 

 semper ex endosporio oriri." No one can, we think, dispute that 

 in the cases cited, viz., Puccinia, Hypoxylon and Xylaria, there is no 

 extension of the outer coat, and to these might have been added 

 Helminthosporium, Coniothecium, Steganosporium, and others, in 

 wliich the germ-filament is certainly a prolongation of the endo- 

 sporium. It is difficult to suppose that the mode of germination is 

 not uniform throughout the fungi, and yet Mens. Coemans, in his 

 recent monograph of the genus Pilobolus, states that the germi- 



• See Introduction to Ciyptogamic Botany, p. 297. 



