Germination of Teleutospores of Ustilagince. 93 
Urocystis—The germination of Urocystis was first 
observed by Kiihn in U.,-occulta,* and is also described 
by Wolff.t U. colchicd was studied by Winter ;t U. ane- 
mones, by Von Waldheim ;§ U. vole, by Prillieux ; || and 
U. primulicola, by Pirotta.1 
The process consists in the protrusion of a promycelium 
from the inner coloured ‘spores (the paler peripheral pseudo- 
spores do not germinate), into which the protoplasm passes 
to the upper end, where it gives rise to a variable number 
of primary spores. If the promycelium be produced under 
water, no spore-formation occurs until its point comes into 
the air. The primary spores fall off, and occasionally con- 
jugate in various ways, but not so constantly as in Tilletia ; 
they also frequently germinate whilst attached to the pro- 
mycelium. 
U. gcculta—The central, dark-coloured spores (as first 
described by Kiihn **) emit a promycelium, at the apex of 
which from two to six primary spores are borne. These 
sometimes conjugate by a transverse bridge at their upper 
ends, and often germinate—as Wolff has more recently 
shown—while still attached to the promycelium, from their 
-lower, ends, sending out a long, narrow germ-tube, which 
receives the protoplasm from the interior of the spore, so 
that the upper part of the spore is first emptied of its 
contents.ft 
U. fischert—The spores of this species, which Mr. Soppitt 
was kind enough to send me, germinated only after a con- 
* Kiihn, doc. cit., pp. 78-80, t. ii. figs. 13-34. 
+ Wolff, ‘“‘ Der Brand des Getreides,” pp. 16, 17, t. ii. figs. I-10. 
t Winter, ‘“ Ustilagineen Flora” (1876), Nos. 10, 11. 
§ F. von. Waldheim, Joc. cét., t. vi. figs. 38-43. 
|| Prillieux, Azz. des Scienc. Nat. Bot, 6° sér., tome x. (1880), p. 49, t. i. 
{ Pirotta, ‘*R. Nuovo Giornale Bot. Ital.,” vol. xiii, 12 Luglio (1881), 
No. 3. 
** Kiihn, loc. cét., t. ii, fig. 202. 
tt Wolff, Zoc. ciz., t. ii. B. figs. 7, 8. 
