Mar. 1904 ] Notes from Mycologieal Literature 
95 
absence in the latter. In botanical classification the Algae are 
generally placed lower than the Fungi, but while an Alga (here 
the g is hard as in the word toga ), in case of some species, con¬ 
sists of a single small cell, some of these aquatic plants are very 
large and remarkably complex in external form and internal 
structure. As examples of the latter, may be cited the con¬ 
spicuous Marine Algae, the so-called Sea-weed, Sea-moss, the 
Kelp, Sargassum, etc., as well as our common fresh-water Stone- 
worts,or Chara. The latter species consists of upright green 
plants, six to eighteen inches high, growing under water in clear 
shallow lakes or ponds, with their numerous regular branches 
in successive whorls, disposed at regular intervals on the stem. 
The species which form the Pondscums, or Green-felt in stand¬ 
ing water, and the bluish-green, somewhat slimy coating on mud, 
or on the water’s margin in muddy pools, are less complex than 
the Red or Brown Algae of salt water, or the ornamental Chara 
mentioned above. It is scarcely necessary to add that the Algae 
manufacture their own food out of inorganic materials — not 
being dependent on other organisms as the Fungi are, they are 
of course never parasitic. Aside from this physiological differ¬ 
ence the two groups are remarkably alike and by many botanists 
are placed sicie by side — the lower Algae with the lower Fungi, 
and so on through the entire series — all together forming one of 
the large groups of the Vegetable Kingdom. 
Fungi derived from Algae. — In the evolution of the veg¬ 
etable kingdom it is reasonable to suppose that the simple Algae 
— possessing chlorophyll and being able to convert mineral mat¬ 
ter into organic food and fabric — preceded those plants destitute 
of chlorophyll and which therefore could not live independently. 
Besides, thorough study in plant morphology and phylogeny 
(unfortunate words to use here but they will be elucidated later) 
has led botanists to the conclusion that the Fungi have actually 
descended from, i. e. really grown out of the simple Algae, — 
and it is believed also that from this same group of interesting 
plants, the Algae, our Higher plants have originated, even our 
Ferns and common Flowering plants! We can easily conceive 
that the simple Blue-green Algae living in stagnant pools where 
the water is highly charged with decaying or partially decom¬ 
posed organic matter, may directly absorb some of this as a part 
of their food. Having then less need of the chlorophyll, some 
forms may have, in the course of a long series of generations, 
entirely lost this important green substance — when they would 
be called Fungi. Or if we imagine that a sudden change, a ‘mu¬ 
tation,’ took place, due to the ‘rythmic’ flow of life, or to the 
‘inherent’ tendency to variation in successive progenies, yet we 
would think the evolution took place along the line suggested — 
namely, Alga to Fungus. 
(To be continued.) 
