1 2 Ward. — Recent Researches on the Parasitism of Fungi. 
one to ninety-four days at least, has also been shown by Miss Gibson and 
myself in the case of the Chrysanthemum Rust and of Puccinia dispersa . 
Klebahn also points out that insects must carry many such spores. 
The only contribution I can offer here is the fact that flies may have spores 
attached to their feet, and that a small dipterous larva (Diplosis) commonly 
occurs in large numbers feeding on the uredospores, and itself dusted with 
them. I found these larvae in abundance on Coffee in Ceylon in 1 880-1, 
yellow with uredospores of Hemileia , and have since observed them very 
commonly on Bromes, and similarly coloured with the uredospores of 
Puccinia dispersa. 
Mr. Salmon has shown the same to be true of Erysipheae, the spores 
of which are eaten with avidity by a Diplosis larva, possibly identical with 
the above, which he has reared and examined in this laboratory. 
But there can be little doubt that other insects co-operate in the carrying 
of spores — e. g. Aphides. I commend the subject to any one who will under- 
take what should be an interesting and definite subject for research. 
The Germination of Uredospores. 
As is now well known uredospores and aecidiospores usually ger- 
minate easily in water ; but it is a common experience that, of those sown, 
the percentage of spores which germinate freely varies. In some cases, 
moreover, very few, or even none at all, will be found to have germinated : 
and Eriksson refers to these phenomena as c capricious.’ 
Now there can be little doubt that such a term only implies that some 
condition or conditions have not been realized in our experiments : at any 
rate, we have no warrant for supposing that any spore is not amenable 
to changes of conditions. Indeed we have now gone some way towards 
proving this. 
I often find, as also did Freeman, that thorough drying — such as 
would result from passage through the air on a high wind — facilitates 
germination ; and Eriksson showed that chilling to the point of freezing — 
another way of drying out superfluous water — quickens the germination of 
such uredospores. 
My results also point to the necessity for perfect ripeness of the spores, 
in order that they may germinate freely : and no doubt water is expelled 
during maturation. 
Klebahn found that spores which germinate badly — as measured by 
the percentage of germinating spores in those sown, e. g., in a watch 
glass — may nevertheless infect readily, and Freeman showed something of 
the same kind. 
Uredospores do not germinate freely if plunged under water ; and 
Evans, working in my laboratory, found that it is often better to have 
the surface of the leaves merely damp, not thoroughly wet, so that Klebahn 
