COMPLEX BRANDS. 60 



leaf as contains two or three of tlie black pustules 

 should be removed carefully with a knife or sharp 

 scissors, and submitted to microscopical examina- 

 tion ; each will be seen to consist of a dense tuft of 

 blackish_, elongated, stalked bodies, clustered as in 

 fig. 44, but much more numerously and closely 

 packed together. These are the spores of the black- 

 berry brand (Aregma hulhosum, Fr.). A few of 

 these spores should be removed on the point of a 

 sharp penknife, placed on a glass slide with a drop 

 of distilled water or alcohol, covered with thin glass, 

 and then viewed with a quarter-inch objective. 

 Each spore has a stalk longer than itself, thickened 

 below, and containing a yellow granular core. The 

 spore itself is much longer than in any of the Puc- 

 cinice, of a dark brown colour, and apparently 

 divided by several transverse partitions into three, 

 four, or more cells, the whole surface being covered 

 with minute warts or prominences (plate III. fig. 41). 

 In 1857, Mr. F. Currey investigated the structure 

 of these spores, and the results of these experi- 

 ments were detailed in the " Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science.'^ One conclusion arrived at 

 was, that '^ the idea of the fruit consisting of spo- 

 ridia united together and forming a chain, is 

 certainly not in accordance with the true structure. 

 The sporidia are not united to one another in any 

 way, but, although closely packed for want of space, 

 they are in fact free in the interior of what may be 

 called a sporangium or ascus.''^ To arrive at this 



