ON THE PERONOSPOK^. 205 



which were first pointed out by De Bary, in 1868. At this point 

 the knowledge of the Hfe-history of the Potato disease stood 

 stationary for many years. Other Peronosporse had been found to 

 possess another mode of reproduction, viz., a sexual one, the 

 product of which was a spore possessing greater powers of 

 remaining in a dormant, or resting state, than the other kind of 

 spores. No such resting spores had been found in P. ififestafis, 

 although Montague had met with some bodies which he described 

 under the name of Artofrogiis, and which had been suggested by 

 some botanists, including Berkeley, as likely to be the missing 

 organs. 



In 1873, owing to the widespread ravages of the fungus, the 

 Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, through the kindness of 

 Lord Cathcart, offered a prize of ;£^ioo for the best essay on the 

 Potato disease, but although ninety-four essays were sent in, not one 

 was deemed worthy of the prize. It is hardly necessary to say that 

 the leading mycologists in this country held aloof from this form 

 of competition. The next step was one which elicited a great 

 deal of ridicule at the time, and met with an equal want of 

 success, for the ;£^ioo prize was now offered for potatoes which 

 would be disease proof. In the next year the Council changed 

 their tactics, and recommended that a grant of ;£ioo should be 

 made to some competent mycologist to investigate the life-history 

 of the fungus. In selecting De Bary of Strasburg for this 

 distinction, a grave slight was put upon the English mycologists, 

 for although De Bary was well known for his painstaking investi- 

 gations, such men as Berkeley, Cooke, and Broome, especially 

 Berkeley, had an European reputation for mycological research. 



In July, 1875, Worthington Smith, who had been devoting 

 much attention to the Potato disease, announced that he believed 

 he had discovered the missing link in the life-history of the 

 fungus, viz., the resting spore. Whilst keeping diseased leaves, 

 stems, and tubers of Potatoes in a state of continual moisture 

 under glass, till they were in a thoroughly decomposed condition, 

 he observed certain bodies which he considered must be the 

 antheridia and oogonia of the fungus, and after a little time he 

 found certain dark coloured, warty bodies^ which he thought must 

 be the perfected resting spores. Comparing these with the bodies 



