No. 536] 



JEAN MARCH ANT 



499 



the other in Saone-et-Loire, lie more than 200 miles 

 apart. It is possible, perhaps, that the seed was 

 brought from Paris to Issy-PEveque and from there 

 transported accidentally to Angers. Or is it more prob- 

 able that the variety originated a second time? It is a 

 question which forever must remain unanswered, though 

 it is not improbable that a French student, who most 

 readily commands the means of research in this direc- 

 tion, could, by delving into historical records, perhaps 

 throw some light upon the subject. 



The work of Jean Marchant gives evidence, not only of 

 great exactitude, but also of excellent powers of observa- 

 tion. Thus, a few years after his discovery of the lacin- 

 iate forms of Me mi rial is annua, lie was able to give an 

 account, and, as I believe, the first, of a myxomycete, of 

 the 1 'flowers of tan." 16 



As is evident from the description and drawings, he 

 was dealing with a Fuligo. He recognized the vegetable 

 character of the organism, but unfortunately places it 

 with the sponges, giving it the name Spongia fugax, 

 mollis, flora et amoenajv palre.ri coriari nasceus. In this 

 case, as in the other, Marchant 's ambition did not lead 

 him beyond a mere, apparently most accurate, descrip- 

 tion, something decidedly pleasing when we remember 

 that in the same year Jean Marchant was elected to mem- 

 bership of the Academie (1678), there appeared Father 

 Kircher's Mandus suhterranens, 17 and that one of his 

 contemporaries was de Maillet (1656-1738), who "de- 

 rived birds from flying fishes, lions from sea-lions, and 

 man from / lionnne niarin. the husband of the mermaid ! " 



Relieving genera to have been created as such, Mar- 

 chant did not go beyond this point, but realized that 

 species were derived from preexisting ones. His own 



"Marchant, J., "Observation touchant une vegetation particuliere qui 



•hi T;m, m;,v. <!r M„th. et de Thys. it \*AcoA. Toy. d. Sc., 1727: 335, 

 Paris, 1729. 



"Osborn, H. F., "From the O reeks to Darwin," 109, 1908. "The 



