COMPLEX BRANDS. 69 



leaf as contains two or tliree of tlie black pustules 

 should be removed carefully with a knife or sharp 

 scissors^ and submitted to microscopical examina- 

 tion ; each will be seen to consist of a dense tuft of 

 blackish^ elongated^ stalked bodies^, clustered as in 

 fig. 44^ but much more numerously and closely 

 packed together. These are the spores of the black- 

 berry brand [Aregma hidbosimiy Fr.). A few of 

 these spores should be removed on the point of a 

 sharp penknife_, placed on a glass slide with a drop 

 of distilled water or alcohol^ covered with thin glass^ 

 and then viewed with a quarter-inch objective. 

 Each spore has a stalk longer than itself^ thickened 

 below^ and containing a yellow granular core. The 

 spore itself is much longer than in any of the Piic- 

 cinice, of a dark brown colour^ and apparently 

 divided by several transverse partitions into three^ 

 four_, or more cells^ the whole surface being covered 

 with minute warts or prominences (plate III. fig. 41). 

 In 1857^ Mr. P. Currey investigated the structure 

 of these spores_, and the results of these experi- 

 ments were detailed in the '' Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science. ^^ One conclusion arrived at 

 was^ that ^^ the idea of the fruit consisting of spo- 

 ridia united together and forming a chain, is 

 certainly not in accordance with the true structure. 

 The sporidia are not united to one another in any 

 way_, but, although closely packed for want of space, 

 they are in fact free in the interior of what may be 

 called a sporangium or ascus.^^ To arrive at this 



