CEYPTOGAMIA. 413 



the spore is sometimes introduced by division of the spore by septa. 

 The body immediately resulting from germination is called the 

 mycelium, and usually ramifies very densely. To it belong the 

 functions of gathering and storing nutriment. Prom the myce- 

 lium there springs the receptaculum, on which the reproductive 

 organs are situated. The receptaculum is, e.g. in the case of the 

 common Mushroom, that part vulgarly considered the whole body, 

 and it is subject to many variations in shape. 



The lowest forms of Fungoid life are to be found in the Myxo- 

 mycetes. In many characters, such as the formation of spores, they 

 agree with the Fungi ; but in others they are so far removed that 

 the tendency is to ally them with such animal bodies as Amoeba. 

 The plasmodium (which corresponds to the thallus of the true 

 Fungi) is of a slimy or creamy appearance, and viewed with the 

 microscope it reveals a number of anastomosing, net-like channels 

 which may be compared in function to arteries and veins, and along 

 which there courses an ever-streaming current of protoplasmic 

 matter, bearing such foreign bodies as spores of fungi, starch gra- 

 nules, particles of colouring-matter of different natures, &c. These 

 channels are not confined by a definite membrane, so that a constant 

 changing of position and direction is permitted, and this to such 

 an extent that the plasmodia of different species have been seen to 

 unite. By-and-by a state of rest is attained, and a capsule or 

 sporangium containing spores is formed, which reproduce the or- 

 ganism in a truly fungal manner. Their nourishment takes place 

 in much the same manner as in the case of the animal Amoeba. To 

 Professor de Bary belongs the honour of having worked out their 

 wonderful life-history. 



LICHENS. Until very recently the Lichens were thought to oc- 

 cupy a position in the Vegetable Kingdom equal in importance to 

 that held by the Fungi and AlgaB ; but from the more intimate 

 knowledge of their structure and life-history, obtained through the 

 researches of Schwendener, De Bary, Stahl, Bornet, and others, it 

 is necessary now to regard them as only an order of the great group 

 of Fungi called Ascomycetes. The thallus and fructification are 

 without doubt identical with those of the Ascomycetes but there 

 enters into the composition of the Lichen another important factor 

 in the form of minute algse on which the fungal hyphse lead a life 

 of parasitism. The case may be shortly stated thus : The green 

 parts of the Lichen, called gonidia, are minute algae, which gather 

 nourishment in a perfectly normal manner. The hyphae of the 

 fungal parasite extract this nourishment for their own use, and 

 the balance of supply and demand is so preserved that both para- 

 site and host continue to consort through life in a harmonious 



