COMPLEX BRANDS. 73 



the spores will be obtuse^ in another acutely pointed, 

 in another bluntly pointed, &c. In one species the 

 number of cells will usually be four, in another five 

 or six, in another seven or eight. The stem in one 

 species will be slender and equal, in another thick- 

 ened or bulbous. So that in all there will be some 

 permanent peouUarity for each not shared by the 

 others. 



One other form of brand {Xenodochus ca/rhonarius) , 

 presenting, it is believed by some, generic differences 

 from all that we have as yet noticed, remains to be 

 briefly alluded to. This form appears to be very 

 uncommon in this country, but, when found, is 

 parasitic on the leaves of the great burnet [Sangui- 

 sorha officinalis), a plant of local distribution. The 

 parasite appears to the naked eye in small tufts or 

 pustules resembling those of an Aregma, but, when 

 microscopically examined, the cells of the spores are 

 found to be numerous, indeed, considerably more 

 than ia the most complex Aregma (fig. 29). This, 

 however, seems to be the only distinction, for the 

 cells are free in the interior of the investing mem- 

 brane, and in all points of structure, in so far as it 

 has been examined, identical with Aregma. Whether 

 it is logical to consider a four-celled spore an Aregma, 

 and a seven-celled spore an Aregma, and exclude a 

 ten or twelve-celled spore from the same genus oi 

 account of the number of its cells, does not appear 

 to us clearly answerable in the aflS.rmative. 



During the course of this and the preceding 



