40 MICROSCOPIC FUNGI. 



on many plants of tlie pea and bean tribe. As it 

 may serve to illustrate some of the preceding^ as 

 well as subsequent^ remarks on development^, an 

 abstract shall close this chapter. 



The spores of this species {Uromyces appeiidi- 

 culatus) are oboval cells^ terminated by a rounded 

 point^, provided with a deep brown^ smooth^ epi- 

 spore, or outer coatings and a distinct^ but colour- 

 less endospore, or inner coating. These enclose a 

 granular matter^ which surrounds what has been 

 termed the nucleus_, but which appears to be a 

 vacuole. At the top of the epispore is a pore 

 which is characteristic of the genus. The spores 

 are supported on a colourless^ or slightly-tinted 

 pedicel of considerable length (plate VII. fig. 150). 

 By means of this pedicel^ the spores are attached to 

 the fostering plants on which they form pustules 

 or sori of a blackish colour^ and variable extent. 

 These spores are ripened towards the end of 

 summer or beginning of autumn. During winter 

 thej^ remain in a state of repose_, but in the follow- 

 ing spring the faculty of germination developes 

 itself. At this period, when moistened or placed 

 on a humid soil, they germinate at the end of a 

 few days. The spore then emits a curved and 

 obtuse tube, which soon ceasing to elongate itself, 

 gives origin to three or four sporidia, of a reniform 

 or kidney shape. When cultivated on moistened 

 glass, these sporidia also emit a short, thin, 

 slender tube, which produce in turn secondary 



