ON THE SEXUALITY OF THE ECNGI. 279 



the Basidiomycetes (excepting Tremellini and allies) aud 

 Ascomycetes diverge ; the former then became specialised as 

 conidium-bearing Fungi, the latter as modified sporangium- 

 bearing forms — i.e. as ascus-bearing Fungi. 



The great motive of De Bary's views, as already shown, 

 depends upon the value of the new knowledge obtained of the 

 Peronosporese, and the meaning of the oogonia (or asco- 

 gonia) and antheridial filaments respectively. 



If, in Brefeld^s scheme, we tack the remaining Basidiomy- 

 cetes on to the Tremellini, &c., and bring his ''Oo- 

 sporese'^ to the base of the main trunk of the phylogenetic 

 tree, slight though not unimportant alterations in detail are 

 necessary to make the two diagi'ams agree. 



If we now turn our attention to the investigations of the last 

 two or three years, it is suggestive that the best results have 

 been won among the Ascomycetes. The influence of De 

 Bary's memoir shows itself repeatedly in these, and they must 

 be regarded as tending on the whole to strengthen his con- 

 clusions. No object is to be served by taking the various 

 memoirs in strict chronological order, and I may therefore 

 commence by reviewing an important contribution by Kihl- 

 mann.^ It may first be stated that Pyronema confluens, a 

 Peziza, is one of the Ascomycetes which has been particu- 

 larly well studied ; and is classical in that De Bary ^ first 

 described the sexual organs in it in 1863, and that Tulasne's 

 celebrated figure^ of these organs has been so much copied. 

 In 1866 De Bary, having devoted much attention to the devel- 

 opment of the fructification of this fungus, wrote as follows 

 concerning the pairs of peculiar organs assumed to be sexual : 

 " Ob und wie sie eine Befruchtung dienen ist eine durchaus 

 unentschiedene Frage."^ 



These sexual organs consist of pairs of swollen branchlets 

 arranged in groups. Each pair consists of a macrocyst and a 



' ' Acta Soc. Scieut. Feuu.,' t. xiii. 



- * iJber die Fniclitentw. der Ascomyceteu.' 



3 ' Aim. des Sc. Nat./ S. 5, t. vi ; cf. Sack's ' Text-book, &c.* 



* ' Morpli. uud Phys. der Pilze, &c.j' p. IGi; 



