MO 
ON THE GERMINATION OF THE UREDINES. 
tendency towards the isolation of their contents by a basal septum, 
nor were any of them subsequently to be seen floating about, as 
they must have done had they fallen off, the presumption is in 
favour of their being endochrome reservoirs. Be this as it may, 
this method of germination presents a very much closer analogy to 
the true puccinoid germination than was observed in any other 
Uredine, excepting in Coleosporium * in which genus it seems to 
be the normal method. 
The sEcidia, as far as I have observed them, germinate in the 
same manner as other Uredines , although Tulasne has described and 
figured one species sEc. euphorbiae sylvaticce , D.C., in which true 
puccinoid germination appears to have taken place. f 
Plate 159, fig. 21, shows a spore of Puccinia epilobii in which 
both modes of germination have taken place, the two narrow tubes 
being the commencement of uredinoid mycelium, whilst the wider 
tube is the beginning of a puccinoid germination tube. 
In observing the process of germination in various sEcidia, 
numerous minute spherical hyaline spores were encountered, that 
at first were supposed to be those of some stray mucedine. But 
that these bodies were connected in some way with the jEcidium 
seems distinctly shown from the fact that they were found in 
sEc. herberidis, urticae , tussilaginis and crassum , immediately after 
the specimens had been gathered, and moreover in specimens that 
were collected of each of these species at various times, in habitats 
miles apart. There were furthermore not seen accompanying 
the spores of any other Uredine. These minute bodies were nearly 
globular or sometimes slightly ovate, measuring from two to three 
micromills across, and were often clustered around the sEcidium 
spores apparently adhering to them (plate 159, f. 2). 
Another circumstance is worthy of record in connection with the 
germination of these fungi, viz., the occasional presence of an oval, 
cylindrical, uniseptate pale yellow spore, intercalated in the mycelial 
tube given off by certain species. This was observed in sEcidium 
berberidis, and tussilaginis. Puccinia malvacearum , and Epilobii , 
and in the Uredo of Uromyces appendiculata and of Coleosporium 
tussilaginis. These spores varied in size from 15 to 20 mk. in 
length to 5 to 10 mk. in width ; they were nearly hyaline, with a 
pale yellow tinge, uniseptate, with rounded ends, in fact very like 
miniature Puccinia spores. What their precise nature is it is not 
intended to affirm, but it would be interesting to hear if they have 
been encountered by other botanists who have studied the germina- 
tion of the Uredines. The only suggestion which presents itself to 
my mind is that they may be abortive attempts at fructification on 
the part of a mycelium grown under abnormal conditions which at- 
tempts have assumed a form similar in contour with the most per- 
* Tulasne, “ Ann. des Sciences Nat.,” 4th Series, t. 8, f. 1, 8, 10, and 11. 
f Tulasne loc. cit. plate 9, f. 24 to 33. Cooke and Berkeley. Fungi ; their 
Nature and Uses, p. 142, f. 81. 
