60 MICROSCOPIC FUNGI. 



spores beautifully studded witli warts (plate IV. fig. 

 77). This species cannot certainly be identical with 

 Puccinia compositarinn (Schlecht)^ P. syngeneslarimi 

 (Lk.)^ or P. tragoiDogonis (Corda). In none of thuse 

 do the spores appear to be warted, and the habits 

 of both the latter are different. Its nearest associate 

 appears to be P. centauricB (Corda)_, at least in the 

 fruit_, and whilst the form and character of these 

 organs are considered of any value in the determina- 

 tion of species_, smooth spores cannot be associated, 

 we think, with tuberculate or echinulate spores under 

 the same name. 



In the spores of the species to which attention 

 has been more specially directed we have types of 

 the principal forms. In the ^''corn-mildew^' they 

 are elongated, and tapering towards either end ; in 

 the '^ coronated brand^^ the apex is crowned with 

 spicular processes ; in the " wind-flower brand^' the 

 entire spores are echinulate ; in the " mint brand'' 

 they are globose ; in the '^composite brand'' elliptic; 

 in the " earth-nut brand/' nearly cut in two at the 

 septum ; and in the " dandelion brand," so variable 

 in form that no two are precisely alike. On the 

 other hand, all are characterized by a transverse 

 septum dividing each spore into two cells. 



