NATURE OF FUNGI. 5 



from the solutions experimented upon, and to keep them ex- 

 cluded, lies at the foundation of the theory. It must ever, as 

 we think, be matter of doubt that all germs were not excluded 

 or destroyed, rather than one of belief that forms known to be 

 developed day by day from germs should under other conditions 

 originate spontaneously. 



Fungi are veritably and unmistakably plants, of a low or- 

 ganization, it is true, but still plants, developed from germs, • 

 somewhat analogous, but not wholly homologous, to the seeds of 

 higher orders. The process of fertilization is still obscure, but 

 facts are slowly and gradually accumulating, so that we may 

 hope at some not very distant period to comprehend what as 

 yet are little removed from hypotheses. Admitting that fungi 

 are independent plants, much more complex in their relations 

 and development than was formerly supposed, it will be ex- 

 pected that certain forms should be comparatively permanent, 

 that is, that they should constitute good species. Here, also, 

 efforts have been made to develop a theory that there are no 

 legitimate species amongst fungi, accepting the terms as hither- 

 to applied to flowering plants. In this, as in allied instances, 

 too hasty generalizations have been based on a few isolated 

 facts, without due comprehension of the true interpretation of 

 such facts and phenomena. Polymorphism will hereafter receive 

 special illustration, but meantime it may be well to state that, be- 

 cause some forms of fungi which have been described, and which 

 have borne distinct names as autonomous species, are now proved 

 to be only stages or conditions of other species, there is no reason 

 for concluding that no forms are autonomous, or that fungi which 

 appear and are developed in successive stages are not, in their 

 entirety, good species. Instead, therefore, of insinuating that 

 there are no good species, modern investigation tends rather to 

 the establishment of good species, and the elimination of those 

 that are spurious. It is chiefly amongst the microscopic species 

 that polymorphism has been determined. In the larger and 

 fleshy fungi nothing has -been discovered which can shake our 

 faith in the species described half a century, or more, ago. In 

 the Agarics, for instance, the forms seem to be as permanent and 



