6 FUNGOID DISEASES 



firmly attached to the leaf surface, which send a very 

 fine thread into the inside of the cells of the host. 

 This fine thread forms a sack-like swelling inside, 

 which gives a larger surface for the absorption of 

 food. There is, however, greater variety of form in 

 the haustoria of those fungi which live inside the 

 plant (endophytic). Saprophytic fungi, and those 

 parasitic fungi which live inside the cells of the 



Fig. 4. — Showing the formation of a haustoriuni or sucker ; (B) in a 

 species of Erysiphe ; (A) the hyph^e ; (C) the surface cells of the leaf. 

 (Somewhat diagrammatic.) 



host, are not so dependent on these special organs 

 for the absorption of food, as in their case it can 

 be taken in over the entire surface of the hyphse. 



Spores. — These are extremely minute portions 

 of protoplasm which become separated from the 

 parent fungus for the purpose of reproducing its 

 kind, serving the same function for the fungus that 

 seeds do for the higher plants. They are usually 

 — though not always^surrounded by a protective 



