88 PERIOD III. 



Fungi. — Micheli in 1729 found the spores of several 

 fungi, germinated them, and figured the product. The 

 figures show the much-branched filament (mycelium) 

 which burrows in the soil and constitutes the vegetative 

 part of the fungus, and also here and there a pileus 

 (mushroom, toadstool, &c.), which is the fructification 

 springing out of the mycelium. His account comprises 

 the best part of what is known down to the present 

 time of the reproduction of that group of fungi to which 

 the mushroom belongs. 



Algae. — Some early observers (Rdaumur among the 

 rest) studied the enlarged and fleshy branches of brown 

 seaweeds, and discovered the seed-like spores. 



This scanty knowledge of the life-history of cryp- 

 togams sufficed until the nineteenth century, when the 

 study was resumed with better microscopes and in a 

 far more connected way, with results of the highest 

 interest and importance (see below, p. 108). 



