BEKKELEY S OUTLINES OF BRITISH FTJNGOLOGY. 9 



de Bary makes no mention of this important element in the organisation 

 of the Myxomycetes. He might have seen in it a farther analogy be- 

 tween the latter and the testaceous Rhizopods, such as the Difflugiae and 

 Polythalamia, to which he compares them." 



There is this further peculiarity in the Myxogastres, and by which 

 they are (as far as present observations have gone) distinguished from 

 all other Fungi, viz., that their spores in germinating produce bodies 

 of a similar nature to the zoospores of Algae. This fact, however, does 

 not aid the argument in favour of their being animals, as it would be 

 equally applicable to prove the animal nature of Zoospores in general, 

 and would thus prove too much. 



In the chapter devoted to the habitats of Fungi, Mr. Berkeley re- 

 fers to the curious moulds which are found upon dead fish.* He says, 

 p. 29: — 



"I am not at liberty to reckon as Fungi the curious moulds which grow on dead 

 fish, making them conspicuous, as they float on the surface of the water, by the foggy 

 halo which surrounds them. These productions differ so essentially in their mode of 

 reproduction from Fungi in general, that at present it would be rash to speak too posi- 

 tively about them ; but, inasmuch as their peculiar characters seem to depend entirely 

 upon the degree of moisture to which they are exposed, there is some reason to hesitate, 

 and to wait for further information. I have no doubt that the mould which is so com- 

 mon on flies in autumn, oozing out, as it were, between their abdominal rings, is a mere 

 condition of one of these anomalous productions." 



And, again, at p. 53: — 



" If those moulds which infect fish or aquatic vegetables, as Leptomitus, Saprolegnia, 

 &c, when immersed in water, be truly Fungi, we should have a more perfect type of 

 impregnation than is presented by the supposed Antheridia — at least, one more nearly 

 resembling that in animals ; but we are not at liberty to assume their affinity to Fungi, 

 and for the present they must be left amongst the Alga?, to which they approximate 

 closely as regards their reproductive organs." 



From these extracts we infer that Mr. Berkeley is unwilling to re- 

 sign Saprolegnia and its allies to the algologists, and that he entertains 

 some hope of their being reclaimed for the Fungi. And yet, if Pring- 

 sheim's observations are correct,! ^ * s difficult to see how these produc- 

 tions can be looked upon otherwise than as Algae. The process of im- 

 pregnation, which has been traced with great accuracy, corresponds in 

 its phases so exactly with that occurring in undoubted algae, such as 

 Vaucheria, Sphaeroplea, and Coleochaete, that the nature of the Sapro- 

 legnieae seems hardly any longer doubtful. De Bary's observations, al-* 

 though confessedly not so complete as those of Pringsheim, tend, as far 



* We may observe that these moulds affect living as well as dead fish*, especially 

 when the former are kept in a confined space. Without vouching for the remedy, we 

 may state, that we were informed, this summer, by a working gardener, that he had 

 treated the diseased fish successfully by administering carbonate of soda internally. 



t " Beitrage zur Morphologie und Systematic der Algen." Die Saprolegnieen, Jahr- 

 biicher fur wissenchaftliche Botanik. Vol. i., p. 284. 



VOL. i. — x. h. R. C 



