NOMAD I'UNGl. 121 



produced by the germination of the sporidia, and that the CEcidium is 

 the product thereof. Curiously enough, it is liere that we meet with 

 the only known organs which suggest a sexual process in the Urcdineae, 

 the Kpennoiione.i. These are minute liask-shaped bodies, which are pro- 

 duced ou the same leaf that bears the G^cidium, usually a little 

 earlier, sometimes on the opposite side of the leaf, sometimes among 

 the CEcidia themselves. Thoy contain an enormous number of small 

 oblong cells, which are perfectly transparent, and enveloped in a 

 mucous secretion. Tliese were called .^pennatia, from a suspicion that 

 thej' represent the male element in a reproductive act ; this suspicion 

 was strengtliened by the difficulty of inducing them to germinate. 

 Recently, however, it is said that a well-known French biologist has 

 succeeded in compelling them to germinate, and thus produce a 

 mycelium ; but remembering how a pollen-grain may be said to 

 germinate, in a sense, when it sends out a pollen-tube, we may be ex- 

 cused for waiting for further investigation before we consider such a 

 statement" a bar to the truth of the supposed function of the spermatia. 

 It is at least probable, both from their size and character, their vast 

 numbers and their mode and time of growth, that these bodies are the 

 male organs, and that the female organs are produced and fertilised 

 on the spot where the QDcidia are subsequently formed. The CEcidia 

 would then be the true fruit of the fungus. The whole subject is at 

 present wrapped in mystery. I often think how the next generation, 

 after clearing up this and manj' similar difficulties, will look down upon 

 us as a crowd of bunglers, who did not know how to use our micro- 

 scopes. The subject is one of great interest to us from our present 

 point of view, because, if the reasoning just given should turn out to 

 represent the facts correctly, the whole scheme of arrangement 

 of these fungi must be remodelled. The fficidium-stage, and not the 

 Puccinia-stage, would then be the typical one, and our classification 

 must be founded upon that basis. 



It may be asked whether, under these circumstances, it is right to 

 continue to give names to these stages of growth, as if they were 

 independent species, to talk, e.g., of (Ecidium violce as well as of 

 Puccinia viulaniin. To this question the answer must, at present, be 

 in the affirmative ; it is only when our knowledge is approximately 

 complete that we shall be able to decide finally what arrangement 

 should be adopted. "When we consider that many of these fungi are 

 often met with under one form only, we must admit the necessity of 

 having a provisional name for that form. At the same time it will be 

 possible to arrange the various stages of species, so fai* as they are 

 known, together, and not, as now, on widely separated pages ; and this 

 scheme would also meet the requirements of those who merely want to 

 discover the names of their finds, if a little typographical ingenuity be 

 exercised in placing them so that one may be able to glance through 

 all the cecidium-forms, for instance, without reading the descriptions 

 of the other stages. 



Finally, I may remind you that I promised to treat of " Nomad 



