FUNGI IN GENERAL 



It is quite erroneous to state, as some have done, that the 

 gonidia constitute the only difference between Lichens and 

 Fungi, whereas the presence of gonidia is only one out of 

 many differences which exist between them.^ The above 

 comparison is rather suggestive than exhaustive, but it will 

 be sufficient for our present purpose, and is intended rather 

 for the assistance of collectors than as a help to scientitic 

 classification. 



There is yet another general aspect to which we may 

 briefly allude, and that is the recent views which have been 

 expressed as to the evolution of Fungi. Mr. A. W. Bennett" 

 traces all the various forms of vegetable life to three lines of 

 descent, represented by three distinct kinds of cell-contents — 

 colourless, blue green, and pure green. The first appears to 

 originate in the Bacteria or Schizomycetes, from which are 

 derived the whole group of Fungi. The second and third 

 do not concern our subject. He considers that " too little 

 importance has at present been attached to degeneration or 

 retrogression, which may be exhibited in the partial or com- 

 plete suppression of either the reproductive or the vegetative 

 parts." Mr. G. Massee, referring to this subject, says : ^ " The 

 evidence in support of the idea that the fungi are derived 

 from the algae by retrogression, is the close morphological 

 agreement of both vegetative and reproductive parts presented 

 by certain sections of the two groups ; for example, in the 

 subdivision of fungi called Phycomycetes the vegetative portion 

 frequently consists of a long, aseptate, variously branched cell 

 or hypha, similar to the vegetative portion of such algal 

 genera as Vaucheria ; in the reproductive portion asexually 

 formed ciliated zoospores occur in Pythium, Saprolegnia, 

 Cystopus, etc., while oogonia containing one or more oospheres, 

 fertilised by motile antherozoids, occur in MonoUepharis. In 

 a second group, the Mucorini, the sexual mode of reproduc- 

 tion is effected by the conjugation of two similar branches, as 

 in the Conjugatae, the resulting zygospore becoming invested 



^ See The Dual Lichen Hypothesis, by M. C. Cooke, p. 6. 

 '■^ Journ. Linn. Soc, " Botany," xxvi. p. 49. 1887. 



^ Evolution of Plant Life — Lower Forms, by G. Massee, p. 150. Loudon 

 1891. 



