THE SEXUALITY OP THE FUNGI. 57 



may possibly not be far wrong if we imagine that interval to be occu- 

 pied in molecular rearrangements in the mass. 



But, although we can sum up the foregoing by saying that, after a 

 time, protoplasm requires re-invigorating by the addition of fresh 

 protoplasm from another source, it is extremely improbable that the 

 protoplasm of the male and female organs is at all similar. 



While we have reasons for believing that the mass of an oosphere 

 consists in the main of protoplasm such as occurs in any cell capable 

 of growth, it would be absurd to suppose that the protoplasm of the 

 male element is of the same nature. There is, moreover, strong evi- 

 dence to support the opposite view, that the protoplasm of the male 

 and the essential protoplasm of the female differ extremely. 



Anyone who reads Strasburger's description of the process of fertili- 

 sation in the ferns, 1 cannot fail to be struck with the peculiar beha- 

 viour of the antherozoids as soon as they come within a certain distance 

 of the oosphere. It seems impossible to avoid the inference that the 

 oosphere in some way attracts the spermatozoids. A similar pheno- 

 menon is described by Juranyi in the fertilisation of CEdogonium? 

 where the relatively large antherozoid forces its way through an aper- 

 ture too small for it, in order to reach the attracting oosphere. 



With such phenomena may be compared the case of Spirogyra and 

 other Conjugatse, where, as is well known, the cells of filaments which 

 are laid parallel to one another, and within a certain distance of one 

 another, put forth conjugating tubes which meet in the middle ; or 

 neighbouring cells conjugate. 



In the Peronosporeae, again, the oosphere appears not only to 

 attract the antheridium, but even to induce its formation from a 

 neighbouring hypha ; s and other cases may be cited, all tending to 

 show that some important difference exists between the protoplasm of 

 the two sexual organs. 



It does not concern us here to give any opinion on De Bary's sug- 

 gestion that profound chemical differences exist, and affect the environ- 

 ment ; or on Sachs' recently expressed view 4 as to the analogies 

 between ferment actions and fertilisation. 



Enough for our purpose that the knoAvledge we possess goes to show 

 that sexual reproduction essentially consists in the reinvigoration of a 



1 ' Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot., vii. 



2 ' Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot., is. 



3 De Bary, ' Beitr. zur Morph. und Phys.,' iv. 



* ' Vorlesungen liber Pflanzenphysiologie,' p. 491. 



