272 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



been developed from the former during a period of 

 apparent rest. In this manner thousands of species, 

 in which the reproductive elements are protected 

 from the inclement season by enclosure within suffi- 

 ciently thick and rigid capsules, lie in apparent rest, 

 while growth and development is slowly and gradu- 

 ally going on. 



Of such incomplete fungi as the SphceropsidecE and 

 the greater portion of the Hyphomycetes no generali- 

 zation is at present possible. Possibly the majority 

 of species are only conditions, or stages, of more 

 perfect forms ; but their life-history is too little 

 known for speculation. It is assumed that many of 

 the moulds are conidial forms of species of Pyreno- 

 mycetes, but the true nature of the connection is a 

 mystery. It is a problem how many of the delicate 

 moulds which appear year after year can have passed 

 through the winter, and how the continuity of the 

 species is assured. From what is already known in 

 other sections we have faith in the future, and that 

 what is dark and mysterious to us now will one day 

 become clear and manifest. Of one thing we may be 

 absolutely certain, that it is not haphazard, or chance, 

 in which the destinies of these minute organisms arc 

 involved, but that their preservation and develop- 

 ment are as well provided for as those of whose 

 life-history we have obtained a knowledge. 



Native Bread. 



Several substances have been known, in different 

 parts of the world, under the name of Native Bread ; 

 but the organism which is known in Australia and 



