ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 689 



seriated and moderate. Now tbis very important discovery of tlie 

 veteran and distinguished lielienist is, beyond all question, sufficient 

 of itself at once to disprove Scliwendenerism in all its phases. For 

 if the gonidia thus send forth filaments in the manner stated, then the 

 gonidia clearly cannot be algals ; and if licheno-hyphas are thus pro- 

 duced by gonidia, then these hyphte as clearly cannot be parasitic 

 funeral mycelia. On these grounds alone (apart from other considera- 

 tion's), this plausible hypothesis necessarily collapses, and ' symbiosis ' 

 is seen to be but a mere fable." 



Fungi. 



Classification of Fungi.*— In Cohn's ' Eryptogamen-Flora von 

 Schlesien,' Dr. J. Schroter proposes the division of the Fungi into the 

 three following primary groups: — I.Myxomycetes; II. Schizomycetes 

 (parallel to the PhycochromaceaB) ; III. Eumycetes, distinguished 

 by their spores being formed by a sexual act. The Eumycetes are 

 again divided into seven families, viz. : 1, Chytridiei; 2, Zygomycetes ; 

 3, Oomycetes (related to the Siphonefe) ; 4, Ascomycetes ; 5, Uredinei ; 

 6, Auriculariei ; and 7, Basidiomycetes. The Basidiomycetes are 

 divided into (1) Tremellinei ; (2) Dacryomycetes ; and (3) Eubasi- 

 diomycetes, which again are made up of (a) Hymenomycetes, {b) 

 Phalloidei, and (c) Gasteromycetes. 



Development of Ascomyces.t — Herr C. Fisch has studied the 

 structure and development of this genus of Fungi, and especially of 

 a species which he calls A. eridogenus, formerly known as A. 

 Tosquinetii and as Exoasciis AIni. It is found on the leaves of the 

 alder, but only in the epidermal cells, the formation of asci being 

 usually confined to the under side. The production of asci is pre- 

 ceded by a reticulate condition of the protoplasm, and is first indicated 

 by a slight protuberance in the outer surface of the epidermal cells, 

 which the ascus finally breaks through. The contents of the asci are 

 at first a perfectly homogeneous and finely granular protoplasm, with 

 a moderately large round nucleus, in which, during the formation of 

 the ascospores, the process of nuclear division can be watched with 

 great ease. The commencement is indicated by the appearance of 

 smaller and larger granules in the nucleus, this being immediately 

 followed by the spindle-stage. The number of spindles is always very 

 small ; they are thick, and converge strongly at their ends, the whole 

 structure having a barrel-like appearance. In this stage the nucleus 

 ditfers in nothing except its small size from that in the embryo-sac of 

 flowering plants. In the subsequent stages the processes differ from 

 that in the higher plants, and also from that described by Strasburger 

 in TricMa, in the threads which connect the secondary nuclear plates 

 being parallel to one another, and in the invariable absence of a cell- 

 plate. After division, the eight nuclei are distributed nearly 

 uniformly through the ascus, and form the centres of the ascospores. 



• Cohn's ' Krj-ptogamen-Flora von Schlesien. III. Band : Pilze, bearb. v. 

 Dr. J. Hchioter. 1 Lieferung. Breslau, 1885.' See Ilodwigia, xxiv. (188.')) p. 121. 



t Bot. Ztg., xliii, (1885) pp. 33-9, 49-59 (1 pi.). Seealso Bot. Centialbl., xxii. 

 (188')) p. 120. 



