On the Besting -Spores of certain Fungi. 31 



ON THE BESTING-SPORES OF CERTAIN FUNGI. 



BY THE EEV. M. J. BEEKELEY, M.A., F.L.S. 

 (With a Tinted Plate.) 



It has been well known for some time, mainly from the obser- 

 vations of Pringsheim, that many of the green Algse, in addition 

 to one or more forms of fruit destined more especially for their 

 immediate propagation, produce certain spores, known under 

 the name of Resting-spores, which do not germinate so readily, 

 but after being dormant for many weeks or months, and after 

 undergoing various modifications, give rise to a new crop in 

 the following spring or summer.* 



Nothing of this kind of provision both for present and future 

 need was till very lately clearly ascertained amongst fungi. In 

 the higher forms, a spawn, or mycelium, is produced by the ger- 

 mination of the minute spores, which in some cases is capable 

 of spreading about and increasing without bearing fruit, per- 

 haps for years, till circumstances arise favourable to its perfect 

 development. The spores of many fungi are, moreover, endowed 

 with powers of resisting drought or moisture for various periods, 

 but though several forms of fructification are known to occur in 

 certain species, as, for example, in the hop mildew, it could not 

 be said of any, so far as our information reached, that it was spe- 

 cially destined to produce a crop in the ensuing season in contra- 

 distinction toother forms destined for the purposes of the current 

 year. In some genera, as Rhytisma, the fruit does not seem to be 

 perfected till some months after the leaves on which it grows 

 are fallen. Fries informs us that when the young leaves of the 

 sycamore are bursting forth, he has seen a cloud of sporidia 

 issue from the specimens which have been lying on the ground 

 all the winter. Cases like these, however, have nothing to do 

 with resting-spores, which in the genera in which they are 

 produced have their own especial end to answer beyond that of 

 other spores. 



In a few cases, indeed, the mycelium assumes a denser and 

 more or less definite form than usual, which answers the same 

 purpose. An account of some of these has already been given 

 in the Intellectual Obseevee, vol. i. p. 288, under the title 

 of " The Hybernation of Fungi." This, however, is no form 

 of fruit, and bears nearly the same relation to the fungus 

 that the bulbs on a Begonia do to the plant, though it is not 

 pretended that they are in any respect homologous. 



* The cysts which give rise to the resting-spores are called hy Pringsheim and 

 De Bary, Oogonia, and the resting-spores themselves Oospores. The resting- 

 spores are, however, only Oogonia of the second order, as it is their contents 

 which in most cases produce the young plant, and not the bodies themselves. 



