xxxvn.] PARASITIC FUNGI. 335 



But there must have been a long antecedent time, when 

 the lowest fungi were non-parasitic, and grew upon the 

 moist warm ground as Botrytis terrestris, Pers., sometimes 

 does now. In those far-off times the primordial plant 

 was probably a mere microscopic cell or thin sac resting 

 on the moist surface of the earth, as illustrated at A, 

 Fig. 141. It probably increased by division, as at B, 

 and redivision, as at C ; each of the four parts soon be- 

 coming distinct, as at D, and each segment speedily reach- 

 ing the original size and form, as at E. Or it might have 

 increased by budding, like yeast. From this simple 

 beginning many observers believe it probable that all 

 plants have been developed. The primal cell might 

 have been a fungus, an alga, or a form occupying an inter- 

 mediate position between fungi and algae, as both fungi 

 and algae may have originated from a primal and at pre- 

 sent unknown stock 



