OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 7 



antheridia are always bottle- or flask-shaped, and borne on the 

 pseudoparaphysis next to the perithecium. These peculiar bodies, 

 which appear to have been overlooked by Peyritsch, or whose impor- 

 tance does not seem to have been appreciated by him, arise from the 

 lower septae of the pseudoparaphyses, or are sometimes terminal on 

 short branches. They are invariably present, as far as the writer's 

 observations indicate, just before fertilization takes place, disappearing 

 as the perithecium matures ; so that in the adult plant there is com- 

 monly no vestige of them. 



Fertilization is accomplished through the medium of a body which 

 must be considered a trichogyne, and is connected directly with the cell 

 from which the asci subsequently arise. The character of the tricho- 

 gyne varies in different genera, and in Lahoidhcnia may reach a re- 

 markable degree of development, giving rise to branches, the tips of 

 which may be coiled in a definitely spiral manner. The trichogyne 

 is even more short-lived than the supposed antheridia, disappearing 

 as soon as any development is observable in or about the central 

 cell with which it is .connected. Whether it is fertilized through the 

 agency of minute round or oval bodies, frequently observed by the 

 writer about the apices of the antheridia, more rarely within them, 

 is quite uncertain, yet the observations of Karsten would point to 

 this conclusion. 



It may be mentioned that De Bary did not look upon the sexuality 

 of these fungi with any favor, as may be inferred from his remark* 

 that Peyritsch himself did not think very well of his (Peyritsch's) 

 •' attempt to save the trichogyne " by supposing a fertilization through 

 contact with one of the pseudoparaphyses in the genus Lahoulbenia. 

 That a form of sexual reproduction is present, however, among the 

 species of Laboulbenia at least, cannot in the writer's opinion be for 

 a moment doubted by any one who has personally observed the more 

 important stages of their development. 



The immediate affinities of these mcst singular plants are, as has 

 been mentioned, very uncertain ; and their resemblance to some of the 

 higher Algfe, through their supposed method of sexual reproduction, is 

 striking and interesting in connection with the aquatic, or semi-aquatic, 

 habit of many of them. That they are fungi, and at the same time 

 Ascoraycetous, seems beyond question. Why, therefore, they should 

 be placed by De Bary and others among doubtful Ascomycetes, is not 

 apparent. 



* Comp. Morphol. and Biol, of Fungi, etc., English ed., p 275. 



