SEXUALITY I:N^ THE LO^ER CEYPTOQAMIA. 65 



" mother-cells of the spores or some other cells are impregnated, is a 

 " question still unsettled, and which ^Yill probahly occupy many an 

 " observer until the right solution is arrived at. As matters stand 

 *'at present, however, the assumption of an impregnation of the 

 " young asci is the most probable one. It is easily seen that in many 

 " apothecia, tolerably wide canals lead down from the upper surface 

 " of the lamina proligera to the apex of the asci ; and moreover, 

 " that the membrane of the older asci exhibits at this spot (which is 

 ** usually thickened and gelatinous), a pore, which traverses the inner 

 " layers, extending often as far as the so-called primary membrane. 

 " May it not be suspected that these circumstances have some con- 

 " nexion with the impregnation ?" 



We cannot venture to say yes or no to this inquiry : the question 

 remains an enigma for Lichenologists, and we now pass on to the con- 

 sideration of the Fungi. 



The speculations as to the existence and nature of the sexual 

 organs of Fuugi have been numerous, and of the most various kind. 

 It would be merely a matter of historical curiosity to follow out the 

 diiferent suggestions which have from time to time been made, and 

 we would refer those who wish to acquaint themselves with the 

 literature of the subject to the 9th chapter of Tulasne's *' Selecta 

 rungorum Carpologia." Of all the speculations above referred to, 

 that which held its ground the longest, and which is as old as the 

 time of Micheli, is the theory which attributed sexual functions to 

 the so-called " cystidia," which are large overgrown vesicles occurring 

 upon the gills of many of the Agaricini, as well as upon Boletus. The 

 idea of the sexuality of these organs has been supported by Bulliard 

 and (long after him) by Klotzsch ; but of recent writers, Corda has 

 been the most decisive in its favour. He called the organs in ques- 

 tion antliericUa or pollinaria, and considered each of them equivalent 

 to a pollen-grain : he thought that a granular fluid emerged from 

 their apices, the diifusion of which stimulated the formation of spores. 

 He was of opinion that the antheridia differed so much in their struc- 

 ture and partial distribution from the paraphyses of the Ascomj'-cetes 

 that the two could not have the same function. Phoebus,* on the 

 other hand, alleges that the cystidia are a peculiar kind of altered 

 paraphyses or basidia, and that although they are more often absent 

 from the Agaricini than paraphyses are from the ascophorous stratum 



* Nova Acta, vol. xix. and Deutschland's Kryptogamische, Gift-gewachse. 

 N.H.R.— 1865. r 



