168 REV. M. J. BERKELEY. 



plants of other natural orders. It is not certain that any 

 seeds of Phanerogams reached the diaphragm, though one or 

 two of the figures, except for their small size, might at first 

 seem to intimate as much. 



6. Algae. These were, in comparison, few in number, but 

 besides those lower genera which appear to be early stages of 

 lichens, there Avere undoubted fragments of Oscillator ice, 

 as in t. iv, fig. 2, t. viii, fig. 4, of Desmidiacece, as in t. 

 V, fig. 1,' of Closterium in t. xii, fig. 3, and apparently of 

 Diatomacese in t. i, fig. 4. These latter are, however, if 

 present at all, extremely rare. 



7. Sporidia of lichens are frequent. 



8. Far the greater part of the bodies are spores or sporidia 

 of fungi, often at once referrible to their proper genera. 

 Spores of Macrosporium, and one or two allied genera are 

 extremely common. Cladosporium herbarum, one of the 

 most universally diffused fungi, appears in one case with a 

 spore iti situ. Helmitithosporium is represented (apparently 

 H. Smithii) in t. viii, fig. 1. Spoindesmium is not un- 

 frequent. True Torulse do not appear to be present, 

 but the yeast fungus, which, after proof that it is nothing 

 more than a condition of common species of Penicillium, 

 Aspergillus, and Mucor, is so often referred to Torula, 

 or to Algae, frequently occurs, either in scattered particles, 

 or branched. A young Mucor with its sporangia is visible 

 in t. ii, fig. 3. The curious genus Tetraploa, which has 

 occurred once only in England and once in Cuba, is not un- 

 frequently represented, most probably being not uncommon 

 on some of the native grasses, and Triposporium appears in 

 t. vi, fig. 2. Spores of Uredinece are frequent, Fuccinia, 

 except in an early stage, much less so. Far the most 

 common bodies are sporidia of Sphoeriacecs frequently in a 

 state of germination, both in dry and hot seasons. So little 

 is known of the species belonging to this order of fungi in 

 the neighbourhood of Calcutta, that they cannot with cer- 

 tainty be referred to their proper group, much less to their 



large quantities iu the air. In one experiment the spores of a cryptogam, 

 at 1000 feet, were so numerous that they could not be counted ; at a rough 

 estimate tliey could not be less than 30-40,000 to the square nicli. That 

 these organized contents travel through the air to a considerable distance 

 was proved by a series of experiments made in the outskirts of M-inchester, 

 but within the boundary of one of the most densely populated parts, and iu 

 no direction within less tlian one third of a mile of grass land. The quantity 

 of pollen was about one tenth of that collected in the country. — ' Experi- 

 mental Researches on the Causes and Nature of Catarrhus sestivus,' by 

 C. E. Blackley, 1873.— Eds.] 



' At least, the lower figure seems to suggest as much. 



