NOMAU FUNGI. Il3 



UREDINE^. 

 Uromvces Triphi-ai'mium ^ ,. i n 



III. Uromvces I, Locvthea or t J' Locythea 



Puccinia " II Urolo II. Molampsora 



I. CEcidiuiu III PhraRinidium • Coleosponum 



ji ( Uredo or Gvmuosporaii<<ium ,[• , ^ en'lermniin 



• ( Tnchobasis " i Rd-stclia ,iM Coleosporiuin 



III. Puccinia in Podisoma Endophyllum 



The triple division, into Pucciiiiacei, Csoomacei, and fficidiacei, lias 

 ceased to exist, because these three orders typify only three stages in 

 the life-history of one and the same fungus. The Ustilagineas com- 

 prise such of the Caoomacei as are found to ditfer remarkably from the 

 others in the mode of germination of the spores ; with these we have 

 uothing further to do. The genera which enter into the other group, 

 the Uredinea3, are nearly all characterised by what is known as 

 Ph'omorplii.'on — that is, they pass in their annual cycle through several 

 distinct phases, which are so different that, prior to experiment and 

 extended observation, they were placed — -and rightly too — in distinct 

 genera or orders. An exactly similar case is well known to zoologists 

 in regard to the classification of the Entozoa. In the table given 

 above, the names placed underneath the genera, with I., II., or III. 

 prefixed, are the names of those pseudo-genera of the Handbook 

 which cow represent mere stages of growth. 



Description of .\ XJEECiNOfs Fungus. 

 To show the position in which the problem stands, let as suppose 

 that we are a band of students just setting out on the study of the 

 leaf- fungi. Let us go into the country on some day in early spring, 

 and gather a few leaves of the common violet. We shall find some of 

 them marked with pale yellowish spots, and looking underneath the 

 affected leaves we shall see a slightly swollen roundish patch, on and 

 in which is seated a cluster of cup-like bodies, filled with orange 

 spoi'es. The fringe or brim of the cup consists of the ragged edges of 

 the covering (called a pseudo-pcridium) by which the spores were 

 enclosed, when the fungus was in a less advanced state. Similar 

 clusters of cups, only elongated in form, are found on the petioles and 

 stems, in fact on all the green parts of the plant. The spores are 

 roughly spherical or polygonal, orange-yellow, covered with fine warts, 

 and bounded by a very thin cellulose membrane. These spores are 

 given off in chains by a process of budding from the ends of delicate 

 threads, called lujplue, with which the bottom of the cup is clothed, in 

 such a manner that the spore which is at the free end of the chain is 

 the oldest, while that which is at the end of the hypha is the youngest, 

 and has in the process of its growth pushed the whole chain of those 

 previously formed up towards the mouth of the cup. A fungus, which 

 possessed characters similar to these used to be called an fficidium, 

 and the particular one of which we are speaking was called (J^cidiwm 

 violce. This (Ecidium is found on the violet in May and June. 



