105 
REPRODUCTION OP THE ASCOMYCETES. 
By Dr. Maxime Cornu. 
(Concluded from page 55.) 
IV. — Role of the Spermatia. 
What, then, would be the function of the spermatia, since they 
serve no purpose in fecundation? We will endeavour, after what 
has been said above, to take account of the utility of these spores. 
Their immense number, very reduced size, and almost impon- 
derable mass, ought to render them eminently suitable for the 
dissemination of the species which they represent. In the same 
manner as insects, by the diffusion of the grains of pollen, aid in 
the fecundation of phanerogamis, so the birds during winter serve 
to transport the spermatia and aid in the propagation of the 
Ascomycetes. 
On the maturity of the spermogonia (which arrive very early in 
tliis state, even in the month of August), we see, under favour- 
able conditions, long and slender tendrils oozing out, which 
contain, in these small, slender, and contorted cylinders, some 
millions of spores ; the rain dissolves them, and washes them on 
the leaves which bestrew the ground, or are tossed about by the 
wind. Birds perch themselves here and there, and carry away a 
quantity of soil ; they then perch themselves upon the trees, and 
are thus probably, in very many cases, together with rain and 
vind, the agents charged with depositing upon the branches the 
parasite which establishes itself there, and develops, by decom- 
posing and assimilating the elements. This mode of transport is 
also applicable to the endospores and stylospores, but most likely 
in a more restricted manner. What is it which characterises the 
spermatia, such as M. Tulasne conceives them? Two properties 
which are not possessed by other spores : on the one part, their 
small size, which renders them more easy of transportation by an 
infinitely feeble agent, and, above all, the special fact that they do 
not germinate in all places, for which purpose they require some 
special circumstances. For endospores and stylospores moisture 
suffices, with a little warmth, to make them germinate, but- it is 
probable that they do not germinate immediately that they are 
moistened ; they may thus be carried to a great distance by the 
rain and wind. How many of these spores must still be lost after 
having germinated upon the soil, leaves, mosses, &c., under condi- 
tions unfavourable to an ulterior development. 
When once the germ is developed, the spore is no more trans- 
ported, except with the matrix on which it is growing ; the germ 
filaments, which are rather strongly attached upon the slips of 
glass in our preparations, ought also to adhere to the roughened 
surfaces of the bodies upon which the spores fall. The spermatia, 
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