135 
take place, that I venture to bring the subject forward again, and to narrate 
what I saw, as well as to add some of the more important observations of the dis- 
tinguished French mycologist, M. Tulasne. 
In the “‘ Handbook of British Fungi” the Uredines are distributed over three 
orders, viz., Puccinei, Ceomacei, and Aicidiacei. Excellent as this arrangement 
has proved itself to be to the present generation of British and American mycolo- 
gists, it is quite probable that when the next edition of the ‘‘ Handbook ” comes to 
be prepared, certain modifications will be made; some genera now disassociated 
will be united, or at any rate brought nearer together. Any such alterations, 
should they be made, will certainly not be brought about by the desire of the 
editor to pander to the strange vagaries now in vogue in certain quarters 
concerning mycological nomenclature, but will owe their existence to that 
progressive accumulation of knowledge, mainly the outcome of physiological 
research, which from time to time antiquates the best systems of classification in 
all departments of natural history. From no standpoint do we obtain so clear a 
view of the affinities of various forms of organic life as when we devote ourselves 
to the investigation of their development. Now, there exist two distinct modes in 
which the germination of Uredines takes place, which, for want of better names, 
may be called the Puccinoid and the Uredinoid, inasmuch as the former is proper 
to the Puccini, while the latter is met with more constantly amongst the mem- 
bers of the so-called genus, Uredo. But it must not be supposed these two modes 
of germination are absolutely confined to the two forms of fungus-life just men- 
tioned; on the contrary, as will be shown hereafter, the Puccini may, and do 
sometimes, germinate after the manner of the Uredines, and vice versa. 
Puccinoid Germination.—As a general rule, the Puccinia spore may be re- 
garded as the resting spore of the Uredo, or at any rate, if not absolutely the 
resting spore, at least the spore which retains its germative energy the longest. 
Very many of the Puccini will not germinate until the spring following the sum- 
mer or autumn in which they were themselves produced ; but this is not invariably 
the case. To take one instance only—P. epilobii, D.C., germinated freely with me 
in from 48 to 72 hours. 
Tulasne has shown that the germination of the Puccinia spore is brought 
about by the protrusion of the germ-tube through an opening in the epispore 
(fig. 25). This tube is destined to produce secondary spores at its peripheral 
extremity, and is never of any great length. There is usually only one germ-tube 
for each primary division of the spore. The figure quoted above is taken from 
Tulasne’s Memoir, and shows the process as observed by him in Puccinia graminis. 
In other words, puccinoid germination implies the production of secondary spores, 
and is found in Zriphragmium, Phragmidium, Puccinia, Podisoma, Uromyces, 
Coleosporium, and in the winter spores of Melampsora.* 
The secondary spores are born upon the terminal extremities of short tapering 
branches given off by the primary germ-tube after it has become septate, and are 
a _____________. | EEE 
} * Probably also Xenodochus. 
= 
