994 The American Naturalist. [December, 
fungi are therefore homologous with the “sori” of the teleu- 
tospore stage of the Uredineae. Instead of.the large eight 
spored asci, which are so common in the Discomyceteae, we find 
in the Uredineae that they are much reduced, both in size 
and the number of spores which they contain, there being 
rarely more than one or two. And here we may propose, in 
the light of the view here adopted, that the term “ teleutospore,” 
while a misnomer as usually applied, be retained with a re- 
stricted application to the spore or spores within the ascus. 
Thus we may say that the ascus of Uromyces contains but one 
teleutospore, while in Phragmidium it contains several. If 
necessary (which I doubt) to distinguish these reduced asci 
from normal ones, we may employ the convenient term teleuto- 
asci. We may thus have teleutosorus, teleutoascus and teleuto- 
spore. 
PLACE IN THE SYSTEM OF PLANTS. 
It remains to say a few words as to the place in the system 
of plants to be assigned to the Uredineae in accordance with 
these views. From what has been said, it follows that they 
are to be regarded as Ascomyceteae, instead of Basidiomyceteae, 
as so many recent botanists assert. Further, it is held that 
they are degraded and much modified forms standing at or 
near the end of a long genetic line, and not primitive or an- 
cestral forms from which higher and more complex ones have 
sprung. The cup-fungi have not been derived from the Ure- 
dineae, but rather we may say that, in all probability, the lat- 
ter have been derived by degeneration from the former. We 
must, therefore, assign the Uredineae to a place in the Ascomy- 
ceteae, after the Dicomyceteae. All may well agree to assign the 
Perisporiaceae to the first (or lowest) place in the class on account 
of their slight modification from the type of the holophytic 
Carpophytes. From this primitive group we pass easily along 
three somewhat divergent genetic lines, viz.: the Tuberoideae, 
Pyrenomyceteae, and Discomyceteae, and from the latter have 
sprung the Uredineae. The arrangement will then be as 
: follows: : 
aere AN AE T CPI NOE 
Sg? TA eg A De moist Y M 
