256 ON THE PEESENT STATE OF OUR 



tributed among differeut genera. They also studied the interesting 

 process by which the germs and spores of the mildew-fungi are devel- 

 oped. In their classical dissertation, " Sur VEnjot de Seiglc,^^ they 

 showed that the well-known black fungus, or germ, as well as all other 

 similar forms hitherto classed as Sclerotics, were not perfectly developed 

 organisms, but rather a peculiar kind of mycelium^ analogous to the 

 tubers of higher plants. It is from them that the Iructifyiug fungi are 

 developed. In the great work, " Fungi hypogei,-^ the above-mentioned 

 authors give us a more thorough acquaintance with truffles than their 

 predecessors, and, in their essays on the Ascoimjcctcc, they lay before 

 us many interesting points about these organisms, proving that they 

 contain several kinds of spores, as well as spermogonia and spermatia. 

 In their principal work, the Selecta Fungorum carpologica, the Tulasue 

 brothers present to us a rich collection of observations, the introduction 

 to which is of especial interest because it furnishes a view of the results 

 of morphological researches. The tables are executed in a masterly 

 manner, and leave all similar productions far behind. In the same de- 

 partment the Germans are well represented by De Barry. He consid- 

 erably extended our knowledge of mildew-fungi, and was the first to 

 make experiments on the inoculation of their spores. He succeeded 

 in discovering the remarkable history of the development of mucus- 

 fungi. He showed that in them the mycelium is wanting, and that 

 from the germinating spore a x>eculiar body is formed, which is gradu- 

 ally converted into Plasmodium, a substance without an analogue in the 

 vegetable kingdom, and finally into the perfect fungus. De Barry 

 studied the potato fungus, and proved the existence of zoospores in it, 

 and in others of the same family. Finally, he discovered the organs of 

 fructification of fungi in a parasite [Pcrono^pora Ahincarum Casp.) lining 

 oil the Stellaria media. The results of his brilliant discovery were fully 

 confirmed by Pringsheim's masterly observation of the Saprolegmia, in 

 which the latter also found zoospores and similar fructification. Cor- 

 responding results were found by Ilofmeister in the iecundation of 

 truffles. According to these observations the fructification of fungi 

 takes place as follows : The antheridium touches the vogonium, one of 

 its processes i)enetrating an oi)ening in the membrane of the latter and 

 discharging either seed, filaments, or its contents, which are commu- 

 nicated to the antherozoid. The latter, which before was membraneless, 

 is now surrounded with a cellular membrane, and becomes the station- 

 ary spore of the plant. Hoffman has m^de comprehensive researches 

 on the germination of the spores of fungi, and Pasteur's excellent works 

 give us information on the part which fungi play in fermentation, by 

 proving that they are nothing more than common mold-fungi in a pe- 

 culiar stage of development. All these achievements, great as they 

 may seem, are nothing more than preparatory labors for the solution of 

 the organography of fungi, a great problem of the future. 

 The works of Elias Pries are the standard on the classification of 



