AND CONTENTS OF THE MOUTH. 429 



lower degree (fissiparous multiplication) through the increase of 

 the granules or the lineal minute elements, contained in the 

 interior of their sheaths. If this were confirmed by farther 

 researches, it would lead us to rectify the first supposition about 

 the formation of the fertilising elements. They would not form 

 themselves freely on the top of the respective filaments, but within 

 a receptacle or male organ properly so called, (sheath expansion). 



These are only simple conjectures, aiming at connecting the 

 various forms hitherto described, reconducting the appurtenances 

 of our parasite to the general laws of the cryptogamic flora, and 

 far from pretending to give herewith a full and exact explanation of 

 them. We shall be quite satisfied if the features of the facts we 

 have endeavoured to describe can be proved by further researches. 



But, even upon a simple descriptive ground, we should perhaps 

 overstep the limits of a simple preliminary study if we were to 

 dilate longer in the investigation of other particulars, before seeing 

 confirmed and set up the points already demonstrated (such being 

 the most important) by competent authorities. Neither is it our 

 business to solve the question whether the discussed parasite is a 

 fungus or an alga. We shall only say that it appears to us to 

 partake of the characters of both families, to thrive as an alga, 

 but to fructify similarly to certain fungi. We shall, therefore, 

 limit our remarks about some apparent irregularities, in the aspect 

 of the described ears, which, through inattention, might pass for 

 true irregularities or anomalies of structure. 



In the first place, we refer to some gibbosities or irregular pro- 

 jections, which are met sometimes by the side or upon some ears, 

 which might lead to the belief that the ears themselves are perhaps 

 constituted without any order, or that the series or longitudinal 

 rows of the sporules are not always six in number, but at times 

 more. 



Now, one of the more frequent causes of such irregular appear- 

 ance is very simple. The breaking up of a contiguous ear, and 

 the adherence of that extraneous fragment to the ear that we 

 examine ; having frequently verified this occurrence, we considered 

 it superfluous to draw a similar specimen on our plate. The 

 other case, less frequent, is drawn in Fig. 29 (saturated with 

 acidulated solution of iodine, magnified to 1,700 diameters). 



