460 



be an altered condition of that structure ('Linn. Trans.,' vol. 

 xviii, p. 475). 



Leveille, in 1826, noticed that the ergot commenced with this 

 soft covering, and considering it to be a distinct fungus, parasitic 

 rig. 205. on the ergot, he proposed for it the name of 



' Sphacelia. John Smith and Quekett, in 1841, 

 published descriptions of the structure of this 

 sphacelia condition, as far as they were able to 

 observe it. They thought it was an amorphous 



of larger doubly-nucleated oblong cells scat- 

 tered among them. It was supposed to be the 

 immediate cause of the ergot, and Quekett 

 gave to it the name of Ergotcetia abortifaciens, 

 while Berkeley and Broome, believing it to be 

 a true Oidium, removed it to that genus under 

 the name 0. abortifaciens. Bauer's drawings 

 are singularly accurate representations of the 

 general aspect of the disease in its different 

 stages, and while his microscope disclosed to 

 a Grain of Rye covered him in 1805 all that Quekett published in 1841, 

 ceiu,ttIte'ofVrgot' ifc was not sufficient to exhibit the minute 

 Twice the natural size, structure as it has been recently described and 

 figured by Tulasne. In Bauer's drawings (Fig. 206, p. 461) the 

 sphacelia is represented as consisting of tortuous and anasto- 

 mosing ridges or plates, with numerous open cavities in the in- 

 terior. Tulasne showed that the sphacelia was organically con- 

 nected with the ergot, and was, indeed, only a condition of it. 



Bauer detected the elongated nucleated cells of the sphacelia, 

 but, like Quekett, he did not observe their connection with the 

 supporting structures; while the cavities accurately represented 

 by Bauer in the foldings of the sphacelia (Fig. 206) are the free 

 spaces where the nucleated cells or "spores" are produced. 



The illustration (Fig. 207, p. 462), copied from Tulasne, shows 

 the relation of the different structures. The dark lower portions 

 of the woodcut is a section through the growing sclerotium or 

 ergot, properly so called. This is composed, as we have already 

 seen, of densely-packed polygonal cells, filled with oil globules. 

 On its outer surface and from its apex are given off elongated 



