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definite in form and the conidia of which also grow out to new hemibasidia. These hemi- 

 basidia are propagated with the greatest ease in dirty water when organic substances for nutri- 

 tion are present in it. and they are brought here into natural association with the germinating 

 seedlings. Any kind of infection in these host plants other than the one indicated here is 

 scarcely to be assumed. Accordingly here in the infection forms of smut fungi there exist three 

 forms of dissemination, by wind, by insects and by zvater, just as has been proved for the pollen 

 of the blossoms of phanerogamic plants. It lis noteworthy that three forms of infection so 

 important for the etiology of smut diseases have been entirely overlooked and therefore have 

 remained completely unknown. 



