58 KEPRODUCTION IN COPUINUS RADIATUS. 



cystidia are at times discharged from one mouth only, and that at 

 the apex of the cystidium. 



Before quitting Pis. 5G and 57, I may say that when a slice, 

 as represented in fi<T. 56, is placed under a covering glass in a 

 drop of water, all the cells totally collapse and perish, so that in 

 thi-ee or four hours not a vestige remains, but the same drop of 

 water which destroys the old cells instils life into the granules or 

 speiTnatozoids, which after the lapse of a couple of hours begin to 

 revolve, and ultimately swim about with great rapidity. These 

 spermatozoids attach themselves to the spores, pierce the coat, and 

 discharge their contents into the substance of the spore. From 

 twenty-four to forty-eight hours after this the spore discharges a 

 cell which soon becomes free, and this is the first cell of the pileus 

 of a new plant which rapidly produces others of a like nature (z, 

 PI. 56). Now the same water which had the effect of im- 

 mediately collapsing and destroying the old cells, has quite a 

 different effect on the new cells as discharged from the fecundated 

 spore, for the whole development of the new plant depends upon 

 the constant presence of moisture, expressed juice of horse-dung 

 being perhaps best. A spore unpierced by the spermatozoids is 

 shown producing a mycelium peculiar to itself, at a, PI. 56. 



A spore is commonly considered to have some analogy with a 

 seed, but according to my views its analogy is rather with an 

 unfecundated naked ovule without an embryo, unless the nucleus 

 within the spore may in some way represent the rudimentary 

 fungus ; when the spores are formed within sacs or asci, the ascus 

 bears some analogy with the ovary. The cystidiurft, on the other 

 hand, represents with its granules the anther and its pollen. 



The six spores represented on the top of PI. 58 are magnified 

 1,000 diameters, and each viscid spore, wliich is furnished with a 

 nucleus lighter in colour, but with a dark outline, has been 

 pierced and fertilised by one or more spermatozoids, whilst the 

 unfertilised spore at a has burst at both ends, and produced a 

 mycelium of its own. At b may be seen tliree spermatozoids 

 which have burst after twelve hours in expressed juice of horse- 

 dung, and which have also produced branching threads peculiar to 

 themselves, reminding one of a pollen tube. It is quite possible 

 that these latter threads may help to produce a new plant if they 

 come in contact with the spores. The large figure at c is similar 

 in nature to the group at z, PL 56, and rejDresents three 

 fertilised spores which have burst and produced the first minute 

 knot or groups of cells of the cap of a new fungus. These eighteen 

 cells took four days for their production, and the crystals belong to 

 the expressed juice of the horse-dung in which they grew. The 

 spermatozoids as here shown begin gradually to revolve after being 

 kept in liquid for two hours, and the movements last for at least 

 four days. At first these bodies are perfectly spherical, as at d, 

 when they merely oscillate, then they revolve slowly, and as time 



