38 H. MARSHALL WARD. 



upon the value of the new knowledge obtained of the Peronosj)orece, 

 and the meaning of the oogonia (or ascogonia) and antheridial fila- 

 ments respectively. 



If, in Brefeld's scheme, we tack the remaining Basicliomycetes on to 

 the Tremellini, &c, and bring his " Oosjoorece" to the base of the main 

 trunk of the phylogenetic tree, slight though not unimportant altera- 

 tions in detail are necessary to make the two diagrams agree. 



If we now turn our attention to the investigations of the last two 

 or three years, it is suggestive that the best results have been won 

 among the Ascomycetes. The influence of De Bary's memoir shows itself 

 repeatedly in these, and they must be regarded as tending on the 

 whole to strengthen his conclusions. No object is to be served by 

 taking the various memoirs in strict chronological order, and I may 

 therefore commence by reviewing an important contribution by Kihl- 

 mann. 1 It may first be stated that Pyronema confluens, a Peziza, is 

 one of the Ascomycetes which has been particularly well studied ; and 

 is classical in that De Bary 2 first described the sexual organs in it in 

 1863, and that Tulasne's celebrated figure 3 of these organs has been 

 so much copied. In 1866 De Bary, having devoted much attention 

 to the development of the fructification of this fungus, wrote as fol- 

 lows concerning the pairs of peculiar organs assumed to be sexual : 

 " Ob und wie sie einer Befruchtung dienen ist eine durchaus unent- 

 schiedene Frage." 4 



These sexual organs consist of pairs of swollen branchlets arranged 

 in groups. Each pair consists of a macrocyst and a so-called paracyst. 

 The macrocyst is an ovoid vesicle, filled with protoplasm, &c, and 

 provided with a hook-like tubular prolongation. The paracyst is a 

 club-shaped branchlet close to the macrocyst ; the apex of the paracyst 

 and the hook-like prolongation become united. After this — the "pro- 

 cess of fertilisation " — branches spring from below, envelope the sexual 

 organs, and form the perithecium, in which the asci arise . 



Tulasne 5 described an open communication through the hook-like 

 process, placing the protoplasm of the macrocyst and paracyst in 

 connection. De Bary, much later, 6 speaks with great caution, and 



1 ' Acta Soc. Scient. Fenn.,' t. xiii. 



2 ' Ueber the Fruchtentw. der Ascomyceten.' 



3 'Ann. des Sc. Nat., S. 5, t. vi ; cf. Sachs' 'Textbook, &c.' 



4 ' Morph. und Phys. der Pilze, &c,,' p. 164. 



5 Op. cit. 



'Beitr. zur Morph., &c.,' R. iv. 



