2i6 Barker . — The Morphology and Development of 
same time presenting but few features to distinguish it from 
the supposed ancestral types, these being, moreover, such as 
serve for a more successful production of ascospores. 
General Considerations. 
There arise in connexion with this view two questions 
which must be considered. 
Firstly, in what relation does Monascus , as representing 
a type not far removed from the ancestral type, stand to the 
lower Ascomycetes? And secondly, does Monascus for the 
same reason afford any indication of the origin of the Asco- 
mycetes from the lower Fungi or from the Algae? 
These questions can perhaps best be dealt with in conjunc- 
tion. 
The nature of the sexual organs suggests at once a con- 
nexion with the Oomycetes, an idea already familiar through 
the theory of De Bary (5) as to the relationship of the various 
groups of Fungi. The antheridia and oogonia of this group 
correspond very well with the antheridial branch and asco- 
gonium of the archicarp of Monascus. Although in most 
forms the sexual organs are produced on different branches, 
yet in some cases, e.g. most Saprolegniaceae, they are borne 
on the same branch, the antheridia arising immediately below 
the oogonia. Fertilization takes place in most cases, the 
antheridium becoming closely applied to the oogonium and 
sending into it a tube which penetrates through the periplasm 
and then empties the contents, in whole or in part, of the 
antheridium in the neighbourhood of the oosphere. After 
fusion of the sexual gametes, the fertilized oospore becomes 
invested with a thick resistant wall, to the formation of which 
the periplasm contributes largely. After a period of rest the 
oospore germinates ; in some cases, e. g. Albugo Candida , pro- 
ducing zoospores directly, i. e. becoming converted directly 
into a zoosporangium; in other cases, e.g. Phytophthora omni- 
vora ) De Bary (6), forming a short promycelium, which pro- 
duces a few conidia, the contents of each of which divide into 
eight zoospores ; and in many other cases forming the ordinary 
