CURREY, ON FUNGI. 133 



it occurs, when the matter was taken up l)y M. Tulasne, who 

 in 1853 published the result of a vast number of observa- 

 tions, and came to the conclusion that the systematic posi- 

 tion of the ergots was amongst the Sclerotia, in which they 

 had been placed by De Candolle. According to Tulasne's 

 views, the ergot, although usually causing abortion in the 

 ovary, is quite unconnected with the fruit of the grass 

 attacked by it, and is in fact only a compact Mycelium 

 {Mycelium condensatum) , which after lying dormant for some 

 months produces eventually a species of Claviceps. He 

 found the Claviceps purimrea produced uniformly by the 

 ergot of rye, and Claviceps microcephala by the ergot of 

 PJiragmites communis. In the ' Botanische Zeitung ' for 

 Fcbriiary 2d, 1855, Cesati, in a paper on the Nature of 

 Sclerotium, mentions the occurrence of Claviceps purpurea 

 upon the ergot of PJiragmites, and seems to think that this 

 fact throws considerable doubt upon Tulasne's theory. He 

 says, — " Je prie de vouloir bien remarquer ce fait contra- 

 dictoire a mon avis primitif sur la signification des Sclerots 

 et qui leur ote davantage I'importance du role assigne par 

 M. Tulasne. La meme espece d' ergot serait La base de 

 deux Cla\'iceps fort differens." 



I can myself confirm the occurrence of Claviceps purpurea 

 on the ergot of Phragmites, for early in last summer (1856) 

 I found a panicle of the previous year of Phragmites com- 

 munis full of ergot, the ergot itself being covered with spe- 

 cimens of Claviceps pmrpurea, without a single specimen of 

 Claviceps microcephala. The question then arises how far this 

 fact is consistent with Tulasne's theory, and 1 confess there 

 seems to me to be considerable difiiculty in reconciling the 

 two ; although there is the great weight of Mr. Berkeley's 

 opinion on the other side. Mr. Berkeley, in defending 

 Tulasne's doctrine, says — " It is possible that the sporidia of 

 two species of Cordyceps (Claviceps) may be equally capable 

 of afl:ecting the grain of the same grass, though the ergoted 

 grains arising fi'om the action of the two species may not be 

 distinguishable ; and even supposing that at one and the same 

 time the ergot might produce Claviceps jmrjjurea and C. 

 microcepJtala, no reason can be adduced why the sporidia of 

 either species should not concur in the production of the 

 ergot." From the mention of ergoted grains, it would seem 

 that Mr. Berkeley considers the ergot and the grain as in 

 some way connected in growth, and if this were so no doubt 

 the difficulty would be got over, for the same grain might 

 easily harbour the latent Mycelium of the two species of 

 Claviceps, but the essence of Tulasne's theory is that the 



