172 M. C. COOKE ON BUNT SPORES. 



as he laid hold of Urocystis did Dr. Hallier renoimce it, and now, 

 no longer believing it to be the cause of the mischief, he transfers 

 all his condemnations to bunt spores {Tilletia caries), as will be 

 seen by his recent work on " Phytopathology," and the reports of 

 Drs. Cunningham and Lewis in the " Lancet," of January the 2nd, 

 9th, and 16th. 



The entire foundation of Dr. Hallier's theory is an assumption 

 that moulds are related to Ustilagines, or " smuts and bunt," or to 

 use his own phrase, that " moulds are mere unripe forms of Ustil- 

 agines." In this assumption I am not at all disposed to concur. 

 The fact itself must fii-st be pi'oved, and this has not been done. 

 It is not only possible, but probable, that some of the moulds are 

 conditions of Mucors, as in the case of Verticillium aftd Acrostal- 

 agmus, and it maybe of Aspergillus and Mucor or Ascophora ; 

 but the relations between either Penicillium crustaceum, or Mucor 

 'racemosus and Tilletia caries must be very remote, or, if not re- 

 mote, not proven. Already some persons have accepted the con- 

 clusions of Dr. Hallier, without thought or question, and argued 

 therefrom that there is no sound basis of classification in Fungi at 

 all, that the whole study is a chaos, and that a new apostle has 

 arisen at Jena to the discomfiture of mycologists all the world over, 

 who is destined to overturn and scatter to the winds all the labours 

 of Fries, Corda, Montague, Preuss, De Bary, and Tulasne. 



The theory that is to accomplish this is thus stated : — " If the 

 spores of an Ustilago be cultivated, two forms always appear — 

 viz., the schizosporangic ard the cladosporic forms ; if the soil on' 

 which any of these forms appear alters or ferments, the forms pro- 

 duced are different. He states that each species of Ustilago has 

 three ripe forms of fructification, and that each of these has a corres- 

 ponding unripe representative, the use of the unripe form being 

 probably, according to Professor Hallier, to j^repare a more nitro- 

 genized soil on which the higher forms may be developed. If 

 Tilletia caries be cultivated on weak, poor soil, we get only unripe 

 forms — i. e., moulds make their apj)earance. 



These ripe and unripe forms may be thus tabulated, taking as an 

 example the fungus associated with cholera : — 



XJNRIPE. 



1 . Macroconidia 



2. Penicillium crustaceum 



3. Mucor racemosus. 



RIPE. 



1. Tilletia caries 



2. Cladosporium 



3. Schizosporangium. 



