The Alleged Fertilization in the 
Saprolegnieae. 
BY 
MARCUS HARTOG, M.A., D.Sc., F.L.S. 
Professor of Natural History in the Queen's College , Cork . 
T HE question of the 4 sexual ’ reproduction of the Sapro- 
legnieae is one of the oldest still debated in Botany. 
Pringsheim’s first results were contested by Cornu, who, 
however, was himself led astray by too close an approxima- 
tion to the Peronosporeae ; De Bary then took the matter up, 
and showed from observations on the living Fungus that, 
despite the formation of male organs, similar in the two 
groups, those of the Saprolegnieae were functionless. Pring- 
sheim then approached the matter afresh ; he alleged new 
evidence in favour of a true sexual process. This was refuted 
by De Bary, Marshall Ward, and Zopf from different stand- 
points. Modern cytolological methods enabled me to 
complete the work of De Bary by means of new facts and 
new interpretations ; and the late Professor Humphrey con- 
firmed my work. Professor Trow has recently attacked the 
problem anew with the aid of the method of sections, and has 
published a revival of Pringsheim’s views, on grounds which 
appear to merit a full examination. This is, indeed, the more 
imperative, as my refutation of his paper of ’95 in a short 
note 1 has remained practically unanswered, even in his recent 
paper. 
1 Annals of Botany, vol. x, 1896. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XIII. No. LI. September, 1899 ] 
