FUNGI. 137 



described, and can hardly be received at present as actual para- 

 sites. Although I do not regard them as so unsatisfactory as to 

 set them aside altogether, I must nevertheless express my doubts 

 with others, as for instance Virchow, of the genuine parasitic 

 nature of these plants. 1 



B. FUNGI. 



Planta terrestres, acolyledonea ; pulverulent a, flocculosce, fila- 

 mentoste, parenchymatosa, carnosa vel coriacea, achromatic, albas, 

 nigrescentes, fulv&, olivacea, rubigniosce, vel rubrae ; cellulares ; ex 

 cellulis minutissimis, isolatis, catenates, vel tubulosis continuo- 

 ramulosis (mycelium), vel filamentoso-articulatis, vel prosenchyma- 

 ticis, vel parenchymaticis formats. Sporidia ex singulis cellulis 

 cvnstituta, aut ad extremitatem receptaculi concatenata, vel in 

 superficie inspersa, aut sporangiis inclusa. 



The vegetative system is represented by filaments, which are 

 simple at first, but branch out after some time ; each of which 

 representing a single oval cell, rarely several cells ranged one 

 close to the other; and lastly there are partition walls in them 

 (mycelium). The mycelium changes its appearance according to 

 the position of the filaments which form it. The fungi found 

 on living animals only show most frequently the nematoidal or 

 filamental mycelium (loosely crossed filaments) and the mem- 

 branous (closely united and mixed filaments which form a kind 

 of membrane more or less solid). According to the amount of 

 moisture or dryness, or the light in which they are developed, 

 the filaments of the mycelium exhibit a different appearance, so 

 much so that the differences and varieties of form which are 

 thus produced were often mistaken for different species, which 

 easily led to confusion when the organs of reproduction were not 

 examined at the same time. 



The reproductive system consists of 



1. Spores (sporidia, sporules), which are generally very nume- 

 rous in each individual, often quite innumerable. They fall off 

 as fast as they are generated, and are probably reproduced simulta- 

 neously in large numbers. The spores lie immediately on the 

 receptaculum, either loose, or fastened on by means of" basides arid 

 clinodes," or inclosed in a spiral organ (theca, sporangium) 3 which 



1 See Appendix C. 



