MONSTROSITIES. 
89 
oblong transparent bodies, similar to the sporidia of a fungus. 
He found the same body also in all states of the ergot, as far 
as the anthers of the affected ears, both in Elymus and in 
Phalaris aquatica ; he therefore regards it as the cause of 
the ergot. The sporidia, according to Mr. Smith, first get 
into the earth, thence through the stem, as far as into the 
anthers, and finally through them into the ovary. He adds, 
also, that these sporidia have been observed by several indi- 
viduals. Mr. Quekett next gives a very elaborate circumstan- 
tial treatise on this subject. The oblong bodies, sporidia, lie 
in ramified fibres upon the ergotised grain when it is young, 
but are no longer found when it is perfectly grown. The 
author observed the external pericarpium in torn pieces on 
the surface. In the interior, he found an irregular cellular 
tissue; he did not find the cells of the external membrane to 
be oblong, as phoebus, but small and quadrangular. The 
appendages at the point, according to the author, consist, for 
the greater part, of the torn pericarpium, which could not 
follow the growth of the grain, and thus was elevated to the 
point. He then gives an accurate description of the fungus, 
which spreads itself over the grain ; he witnessed the multipli- 
cation of the sporidia, when placed in a wetted glass, either 
by a tube shooting forth from one side, with partitions, the 
joints of which separate themselves as sporidia, or by a small 
bud being produced at the end, which grows into a sporidiuni. 
Another kind of multiplication takes place, when the epider- 
mis about the sporidiuni is torn into pieces, and sprouts out, 
developing granules upon itself, which become similar to those 
in the interior — the sporidia. The last kind of growth is the 
following : — green granule extends itself laterally in the 
sporidia, and forms a partition, and thus divides the sporidia 
into two parts ; each part again divides itself, and so on, so 
that thus a jointed simple fibre is produced, which then 
becomes further ramified. He also saw small green granules 
collected on the glass, which had separated themselves from 
the sporidia that were torn, as might be inferred from the 
presence of the torn sporidia, and which developed themselves 
into sporidia. As this fungus, therefore, can vegetate on glass, 
481 2 H 
