CHAPTER III.—SPORES OF FUNGI.— GERMINATION. 109 
otherwise tolerably homogeneous and transparent, contains one, or in exceptional 
cases two or more, round and comparatively large drops of oil which are colourless 
or coloured in shades of yellow and red according to the species, and are excentrically 
situated; a nucleus has been shown to be present in some cases’, and it is more than 
probable that it is present in all. A single very long cilium arises from one point 
of the surface., The sudden curvature of the cilium occasions a backward and 
somewhat hopping movement of the spore often alternating with longer periods 
of rest, especially towards the end of the stage of movement; this stage either passes 
directly into that of rest or, as most frequently happens, into a stage exhibiting a 
creeping amoeboid motion, in which the cilium disappears or is dragged behind. 
According to Cornu the zoospores of Monoblepharis behave in a similar manner to 
those of the Chytridieae. Further details and figures illustrative of these points will 
be found below in the sections of Chapter V which deal with the Peronosporeae, 
Saprolegnieae, and Chytridieae. 
III. GERMINATION OF SPORES. 
Section XXXI. Spores begin to germinate under certain necessary conditions, 
which will be considered further on, one only being mentioned here in passing, viz. a 
supply of water. 
Since Prevost published his Mémoir on Caries and Ehrenberg his Epistola de 
Mycetogenesi the germination of a great number of representatives of most of the 
divisions of the Fungi has been observed and described. If the attempts made to 
procure germination have not hitherto in certain cases been successful, this is partly 
no doubt because special conditions are requisite for the purpose and these conditions 
have not yet been ascertained; with the study and determination of these the number 
of failures is constantly diminishing. On the other hand, beside the spores which 
have the power of germination, there are other cells in many species which resemble 
the spores in origin and structure, but which so persistently withstand all attempts to 
make them germinate that they must be considered to be incapable of germination. 
These organs are only mentioned here in passing; their further significance will be 
specially noticed below in section LXX. 
The morphological process in germination consists generally in the fact that 
phenomena of development are exhibited in the spore, which are specifically distinct 
from those which lead to maturity. 
These phenomena may vary, either in different kinds of spores, or in the same 
spore according to the external conditions; for instance the recently matured 
acrogenously formed spore (gonidium) of Phytophthora becomes the mother-cell 
of swarm-spores in pure water containing much free oxygen; on the contrary in 
nutrient solutions it usually puts out germ-tubes. 
The changes in form which take place in germination group themselves naturally 
under two heads. First, the germinating spore becomes the mother-cell of new 
spores with or without important change of form, as in Protomyces, Phytophthora, 
and Cladochytrium (Figs. 41, 42, 54). We may in this case speak according to 
circumstances of spore-like spore-mother-cells or sporangia, instead of spores. This 
would depend on the object and requirements of each occasion, without prejudice to 

' Strasburger, l. v. page 107. 
