Boyal Microscopical Society. 



153 



on living animals ; but with respect to development within the 

 thorax, &c., of birds, Dr. Charles Kobin's* resume has more com- 

 pleteness. The latter describes and refers to several kinds of fungi 

 found by competent observers in situations nearly identical with 

 those I have detailed. The following true, or supposed, distinct 

 species of Aspergillus are denoted by him : — 



A. candidus, Micheli. 

 A. glducus, Fries. 

 A. nigrescens, Kobin. 



A. sp. ?, Miill. and Retz.- 



men from the Snowy Owl. 



-speci- 



A. sp. ?, Mayer — specimen from 



the Jay. 



A. sp. ?, Deslongchamps — speci- 

 men from the Eider Duck ; Eobin 

 says probably A. glaucus. 



According to M. Kobin's determination of the epiphytes, six 

 forms are noted ; yet he only ventures to name three species, and 

 one of these, his Aspergillus nigrescens, seems at present rather to 

 be distrusted by our highest Enghsh authorities on Mycology. 

 This reduces the really certified specific forms to two, A. candidus 

 and A. glaucus. 



As regards the cryptogamic vegetations which I have en- 

 countered, are they algae or fungi ? I put it so, as at the meeting 

 of the British Association in Edinburgh, 1871, Mr. Cooke threw 

 out the hint of the possibility of their belonging to the first-men- 

 tioned group. I had myseK stated, and believe I have fair 

 grounds for considering them to be members of the Order Muce- 

 dines, and species of the genus Aspergillus. The location, visceral 

 cavity of a bird, is that wherein previous observers have registered 

 their occurrence. The microscopical structure, I presume, endorses 

 the opinion; for we have in the interwoven thread-like cells a 

 representative of mycelium, and in the cells, echinulate spores 

 identical with those of Aspergillus glaucus. On comparing my 

 drawings of the microscopic structures with those of MuUer and 

 Ketzius,t Deslongchamps, :]: Spring,§ and Eobin, || I find them in 

 most respects identical. A careful revision, moreover, of descrip- 

 tions and original figures of Aspergillus, of several botanical 

 writers,1[ estabhshes additional conviction. 



* ' Hist. Nat. des Ve'ge'taux Parasites qui croissent sur L'Homme et sur les 

 Animaux Yivant.' Paris, 1853, p. 545 et seq. 



t ' Ueber Parasitiche Bildnngen,' I. c. hereafter, Tab. Tiii., fig. 3. 



j ' Note sur les mceurs du Canard Eider et sur des moisissiu-es developees pen- 

 dant la vie, a la surface interne des poches aeriennes d'un de ces animaux,' /. c. 

 pi. xi., figs. 4, 5, 6. 



§ ' Sur une Muce'dinee developee dans la poche aerienne abdominals d'une 

 Pluvier Dore,' I. c. infra, Figs. 2 and 3 in plate accompanying paper. 



11 Z. c. Cliampignous, pi. ii., fig. 4, a, 6, c, d, e, f, et fig. 13. 



i Sowerby, ' Eng. Fungi/ Loud., 1797-1803, pi. 378, figs. 5 to 9 ; Meyen, ' Pflan- 

 zenphysiologie,' figs. 20-22, pi. x., vol. iii.; Berkeley, 'Introd. to Cryptogamic 

 Botany,' fig. 68, &c. 



