294 M. C. Montagne's Organographic and Physiologic 



agulable by heat ; a third soluble in alcohol ; 4. fatty matter analo- 

 gous to wax ; 5. fatty substances ; one fluid at an ordinary tempe- 

 rature, the other solid, crystallizable at the same temperature; 

 6. sugar ; 7. matter capable of being coloured brown by the action of 

 free air; 8. an aromatic substance ; 9. traces of sulphur; 10. traces 

 of salts of potash and silex *. 



The reproduction of Fungi has been a subject of long and lively 

 controversy ; but I think modern observations, by clearing up the 

 question, have induced a more uniform opinion, and one more nearly 

 approaching truth. 



It was long believed that their production was due to an equivocal 

 generation, or simply to the decomposition of organized bodies. It 

 is to MicheU that we owe the experiments which have passed sen- 

 tence on this erroneous opinion, which, however, was held recently 

 by some distinguished botanists. The proverb nihil de nihilo is here 

 applicable, and I can scarce bring myself to believe that spontaneous 

 or equivocal generation has any supporters amongst botanists. But 

 amongst those who do not deny that a sporule can germinate, there 

 are some who nevertheless cling to equivocal generation, admitting 

 those transformations from whence it would result that a species, 

 instead of producing a being identical with itself, would give birth 

 to another species of a different genus or even family. This error is 

 due to the fact, that in order to the production of the fructification, 

 or in other words, what we term the fungus itselff, the vegetative 

 system requires a greater or less length of time, sometimes even 

 many years. Suppose that the sporidia of a Clavaria have given 

 birth to an Himantia ; who does not now know that this production, 

 which has erroneously beeii constituted a genus, is nothing but the 

 mycelium or organ of vegetation, from whence at some more distant 

 epoch a Clavaria would have arisen identical with that from whence 

 the mycelium sprang ? And, as Fries expresses himself very judi- 

 ciously on this subjectj, "At num e seminibus Pyri Mali satis mox 

 pomum hahehis? Primum sine dubio enascetur arbuscula; sic inter 

 Fungos mycelium." There is no fungus of the six families which 

 we have reviewed which does not normally bear sporidia. Are these 

 then mere lusus naturee ? This notion is repugnant to reason and 

 common sense. We must then admit that, as in all organized bodies, 

 these sporidia are not, cannot be anything but organs destined for 

 the reproduction of the species. Besides, that which reason counts 

 for probable, observation and direct experiment have put completely 

 beyond doubt. 



The most curious fact in the physiology of Fungi is perhaps that 

 of the kind of copulation which we observe amongst the branches of 

 Syzygites megalocarpus, Ehrenb. This phsenomenon is analogous to 



* It is curious that the greatest proper heat met with by Dutroehet in the 

 vegetable kingdom, with the exception of that of the spadix of Arum, was 

 in Boletus areus.—See Ann. Sc. Nat., Feb. 1840. — M. J. B. 



f Totus fungus pro merd fncctificatione habendus est. Fries, Lichen, 

 Europ. Proleg., p. xx. 



X Eel. Fung, in Linnsea, v. p. 503. 



