15 



ture ; Conionycetes — dust fungi — ^where, as in 

 the smut of wheat, dust ' was a leading point ; 

 Gasterovi'fcetes — so called from being contained 

 in a pouch or uterus ; Hymenomycetes — mem- 

 brane fungi — in winch the threads were 

 condensed into a membrane, as seen in mush- 

 rooms ; Ascomycetes — sack-bearing fungi — be- 

 cause the sporidia were contained in cylindrical 

 or sausage-shaped sacks; and Physomycetes — 

 bladder fungi. Attention was then directed to 

 several forms of fungi, whose ravages had been 

 productive of considerable injury, such as that 

 which, since the year 1845, has almost yearly 

 been so destructive to our potato crops, and in 

 connection with which, though much had been 

 done, much more still remained unsettled. 

 Another, attacking our cereals, presented great 

 difficulties, known as it was iinder the names of 

 smut, bunt, mildew, &c. Each being distinct in 

 appearance, specific names were given to each, 

 until it was proved they were different stages of 

 the same fungus. Other forms were described, 

 and tlie paper illustrated by microscopic pre- 

 parations, among which were Peronospora in- 

 Jestans, on potato-leaf; Cladosporium herbarum, 

 on stone-crop ; Stillbum aurantiacuvi, on stem 

 of sage; Asperfjillus glavcus, on thyme leaves; 

 section of mushroom, and Peziza ceruginosa, in 

 oak, and exhibiting the germination of the 

 spores. 



April 8. — " An Evening for Specimens." — Mr. Sewell 

 exhibited a young saw-fish and the saw of an 

 adult, from the Coromandel coast, where they 

 ai-e very numerous. In their habits they are 



