128 FUNGI. 
pseudospores are involved in a gelatinous element. The diffu- 
sion of these fruits is more or less complete according to their 
compact or pulverulent nature. In some species of Puccinia the 
sori are so compact that they remain attached to the leaves long 
after they are dead and fallen. In the genus Melampsora, the 
wedge-shaped winter-pseudospores are not perfected until after 
the dead leaves have for a long time remained and almost rotted 
on the ground. It is probable that their ultimate diffusion is 
only accomplished by the rotting and disintegration of the 
matrix. Inthe Ceomacei, Ustilaginet, and A:cidiacei the pseudo- 
spores are pulverulent, as in some species of Puccinia, and are 
easily diffused by the motion of the leaves in the wind, or the 
contact of passing bodies. Their diffusion in the atmosphere 
seems to be much less than in the case of the Hyphomycetes. 
By what means such a species as Puccinia malvacearum, which has 
very compact sori, has become within so short a period diffused 
over such a wide area, is a problem which in the present state 
of our knowledge must remain unsolved. It may be through 
minute and plentiful secondary spores. 
SpERMATIA are very minute delicate bodies found associated 
with many of the epiphyllous Coniomycetes, and it has been sup- 
posed are produced in conjunction with some of the Spheriacei, 
but their real function is at present obscure, and the name is 
applied rather upon conjecture than knowledge. It is by no 
means improbable that spermatia do exist extensively amongst 
fungi, but we must wait in patience for the history of their 
relationship. 
TricHosPpoRES might be applied better, perhaps, than conidia 
to the spores which are produced on the threads of the Hypho- 
mycetes. Some of them are known to be the conidia of higher 
plants; but as this is by no means the case with all, it would be 
assuming too much to give the name of conidia to the whole. 
By whatever name they may be called, the spores of the 
Hyphomycetes are of quite a different type from any yet men- 
tioned, approximating, perhaps, most closely to the basidiospores 
of the Hymenomycetes in some, and Gasteromycetes in others ; 
as, for instance, in the Sepedoniei and the Trichodermacei. The 
