On the presence of sexual organs in Aecidium. 
BY 
GEORGE MASSEE. 
With Plate IV. A. 
ROMYCES Poae , Rab., is considered by Winter 1 as a 
^ stage of the Aecidium found on Ranunculus Ficaria. The 
former is rare with us, having been hitherto only recorded from 
two districts, whereas the latter is probably the commonest and 
most universally distributed of any member of the genus. In 
the Royal Herbarium grounds at Kew it is very abundant, but 
no trace of the Uromyces has occurred, although carefully 
looked for throughout the season, which led to the idea that, 
like Puccinia graminis , this Aecidium might possess some 
means of reproducing itself independent of the Uromyces. 
During the past spring, while looking for mycelium in 
‘ healthy’ leaves of R. Ficaria obtained from plants having the 
Aecidium present on other leaves, I noticed in one section a 
spherical weft of interlaced hyphae, the tip of one thread 
situated in the centre of the mass ending in a clavate head, 
rich in coarsely granular protoplasm (Fig. i). The section 
was kept alive for several days, during which the clavate body 
increased in size, its protoplasm becoming less granular, 
several highly refractive globules appeared, and staining with 
methyl-green demonstrated the presence of a well-defined 
nucleus with a nucleolus. The mycelium found in the leaf 
agreed in every respect with that of the Aecidium , and was 
traced down the petiole and into the tubers. I cannot say 
1 Kryptogamen-Flora (Pilze) p. 162. See also Rab. in Univ. itin. 1866, No. 38, 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. II. No. V, June 1888.] 
