."^2 British Fund. 



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o> 



giving origin to gonidia, -wlietlier contained in 

 sporangia or naked at the tips of the branches, are 

 called gonidioplwres. It will doubtless have been 

 already observed that the gonidia produced at the tips 

 of hyphse are homologous with basidiospores, inasmuch 

 as both are asexual in origin, and in the Basidiomycetes 

 both originate from specialized hjphss forming the 

 same sporophore, and in all probability, in the last 

 named group more especially, the difference between 

 gonidia and basidiospores may be expressed by the 

 statement that the two forms represent the two 

 extremes of differentiation of one primitive type, the 

 gonidia! mode of reproduction. The reason for this 

 statement will be better understood later on. 



It has been already mentioned that in certain 

 species the gonidial form alone is present, and also 

 that when such gonidial forms approximate closely to 

 others having also the higher reproductive condition 

 developed, the incomplete form is considered as be- 

 longing to the same genus as the perfect form, or that 

 possessing both modes of reproduction. As an ex- 

 ample of the above ; according to the old method of 

 classification, before it was known that certain fungi 

 possessed two or more distinct modes of reproduction, 

 it was considered that every spore or gonidia-produc- 

 ing form was a true and distinct species. Now, accord- 

 ing to this idea, several mould-like fungi producing 

 naked spores (gonidia of to-day), and agreeing in all 

 essential points, were included in a genus called 

 Botrytis, or Polyadis of some authors. This assemblage 

 of forms was accepted as constituting a genus con- 

 sisting of genuine and complete individuals, until it 



