1894,] Botany. 607 
through Thelobolus from the carposporangic Zygomycetes, as Mortie- 
rella. 
But the fact that in the Laboulbeniacee an ascus fructification is pro- 
duced as the result of a sexual process throws grave doubt upon this 
theory, if it does not wholly overthrow it. It seems clear that the 
process of reproduction in these fungi, as outlined by Mr. Thaxter, in- 
dicates that the comparison of the ascus to the sporangium of the 
Mucorace is wholly erroneous and that DeBary was right in consider- 
ing it homologous to the sexual fructification of the Phycomycetes, 
whether or not he was wrong in believing it to be in many cases the 
result of a sexual process. It is perhaps not without significance that 
works like Von Tavel's Morphologie do not notice the Laboulbeniacee 
at all. 
Another and still more interesting question will be presented. ‘when 
some one in the light of the development of the Laboulbeniacec ventures 
to reopen the question of the formation of the spore-fruit in the As- 
comycetes and to question the conclusions of Brefeld. That the evidence 
must be reexamined seems to be clear if the conclusions announced by 
Mr. Thaxter are sustained by his observations. We have come to 
regard all accounts of sexual processes in fungi as doubtful since the 
writings of Brefeld have produced a school of sceptics on such points. 
If in a group which must be admitted to be immediately related to the 
Ascomycetes, if not a veritable member of them, which it evidently is, 
antheridia, antherozoids, and trichogynes—terms which the works on 
the morphology of the fungi have agreed to discard for the higher 
fungi—actually occur, we cannot rest content with any explanation of 
the formation of the sporocarp in the Ascomycetes which leaves any 
phenomenon apparently connected with those found in the Laboulbeni- 
acee unaccounted for. ' 
Mr. Thaxter's brief sketch suggests many coincidences which serve 
to convince one that the ghost of the DeBaryan theory as to the 
Ascomycetes will not down and that we may expect it to visit our 
slumbers nightly until we find some better means of reconciling the 
Laboulbeniacew with current theories as to the Ascomycetes than at pre- 
sent seems possible. 
Mr. Thaxter's forthcoming Meine will be awaited eagerly by 
all who are in any degree interested in the morphology and biology of 
the fungi. It goes without saying that his previous work is a guaranty 
that our expectations will be amply realized. 
Roscor Pouxp. 
