CHAPTER II 

 PHYCOMYCETES 



The name Phycomycetes, translated literally, means algal 

 fungi. It was first applied by early investigators, who recognized 

 that members of the group resemble strikingly in essential 

 features of morphology certain of the green algae. 



Origin of the Phycomycetes. — Several prominent early mycolo- 

 gists and algologists believed that the Phycomycetes are merely 

 degenerate algae, which, coincident with the assumption of the 

 parasitic or saprophytic habit, have lost their ability to form 

 chlorophyll. Pringsheim (1858), one of the first students of 

 note on aquatic Phycomycetes, interpolated the genera of the 

 Saprolegniales among those of the siphonaceous green algae. 

 Following his lead Cohn (1872) and Sachs (1874) proposed 

 classifications in which all the known families of the fungi are 

 scattered among those of the algae. In the arrangement pre- 

 sented by Sachs, the Chytridiales are grouped with the Protococ- 

 coideae, the Oomycetes with the Oosporeae, the Zygomycetes 

 with the Conjugatae, and the Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes 

 with the Florideae (red algae) . These writers felt that the change 

 to the parasitic or saprophytic mode of hfe, accompanied by 

 the loss of ability to form chlorophyll, had occurred at various 

 points along the algal line. They beheved that several series 

 of non-chlorophyll bearing forms had been thus initiated. Con- 

 sequently, to them there seemed to be no logical basis in a phy- 

 logenetic arrangement for segregation of the colorless forms as 

 a separate group. This point of view was generally accepted at 

 the time, and is still held by some students. Its correctness was 

 first seriously questioned by de Bary (1881). That great student 

 of mycology agreed that, by interpolation of the colorless forms 

 among the green, a usable arrangement had been devised, but 

 he doubted that it constitutes a natural system. He believed 

 that each of the principal subdivisions of both the fungi and 

 algae has its own lower and higher forms, and argued that the 



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