NUCLEAR PHENOMENA IN CERTAIN STAGES IN THE 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SMUTS. 
WITH PLATES VIII AND IX. 
ROBERT A. HARPER, 
Professor of Botany, University of Wisconsin. 
The economic significance of the smuts, together with the un¬ 
certainty as to their relationships, has made them almost con¬ 
stantly objects of investigation both from the practical and the 
more purely theoretical standpoint. The older literature is cited 
fully in papers by Tulasne 1 and DeBary. 2 The germination of 
the smut spores of various species in water was first accurately 
observed and figured by Tulasne, DeBary, and the latter’s pupil, 
Fischer von Waldheim, 3 whose excellent paper developed the 
knowledge of the spore formation and germination for a con¬ 
siderable series of forms into practically the condition in which 
it remains today. Brefeld 4 has continued and extended our 
knowledge of the germination of the spores in artificial media. 
His work is practically exhaustive so far as the external mor¬ 
phology of the forms is concerned, and his vast series of plates 
illustrating the stages in germination and the saprophytic 
growth of all the principal genera and species are models of 
completeness. 
All the authors mentioned and many others have observed and 
tulasne, “ Me moire sur les Ustilaginees compares aux Uredin^es,” 
Ann. d. Sc. Nat., Ser. 3, VII, 1847; and “ Memoire sur les Uredinees et 
les Ustilaginees.” Ann. d. Sc. Nat., Ser. 4, II. 
2 DeBary, Untersuchungen liber d. Brandpilze. (Berlin, 1853.) 
3 Fischer von Waldheim, “ Beitrage zur Biol. u. Entw. d. Ustilagineen.” 
Jahrbilcher fur Botanik, VII, 1869. 
4 Brefeld, Botanische Untersuchungen uber Hefenpilze. (Leipzig^ 
1883); and Untersuchungen aus dem Oesammtgebiete d. Mykologie y 
XII, Heft, “ Hemibasidii.” (Munster, 1895.) 
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