H2 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



by a thick cell wall, and forming a resting spore. Many 

 species belonging to the Phycomycetes are aquatic, being para- 

 sitic in the tissues of aquatic plants or animals.'' 



A German author, Dr. Oscar Brefeld, who has accom- 

 plished an immense amount of hard work in investigating 

 life -histories, is the authority for the classification of Fungi 

 upon somewhat of this principle. He divides all Fungi into 

 two primary groups — first, the Phycomyceteae, or Algal-like 

 Fungi, characterised by sexual as well as asexual modes of 

 reproduction ; second, the Mycomycetes, where the sexual phase 

 is completely arrested, and consequently they are propagated 

 exclusively by asexually formed spores. He further divides 

 the Phycomycetes into Zygomycetes, producing zygospores by 

 conjugation, and Oomycetes, producing oospheres that are ferti- 

 lised by motile antherozoids, or by transfusion of the contents 

 of passive antheridia. The other group, or Mycomycetes, are 

 also subdivided into Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes, with the 

 Ustiligineae as a transition group between Phycomycetes and 

 the Basidiomycetal group of the higher Fungi. 



Earlier than the above, Sachs proposed a very peculiar 

 arrangement of Thallophytes, which failed to secure general 

 acceptance. In this arrangement Algae and Fungi were terms 

 practically abolished, and the series ran in parallel lines. 

 " The sole character made use of in their primary classifica- 

 tion ' was the mode of reproduction. First came the Proto- 

 phyta, in which no sexual mode of reproduction is known, 

 followed by three primary classes, the Zygosporeae, Oosporeae, 

 and Carposporeae, distinguished solely by the degree of com- 

 plexity of the sexual process. Each of these four classes was 

 then divided into a series containing chlorophyll, and a series 

 not containing chlorophyll, the former including the organisms 

 hitherto known as Algae, the latter those known as Fungi." 



The views of Brefeld and his coadjutors seem so likely to 

 influence the future of mycologic study, that we may be justi- 

 fied in giving an abstract of them as summarised by Dr. Von 

 Tavel. 1 According to these authorities, Fungi should be classed 

 in two primary groups : (1) the Phycomycetes, consisting 

 typically of a single cell with sexual functions, the nearest 

 1 Vergleichende Morphologie der Pilze. Jena, 1892. ^J 



