The Cultivation of the Fungi. 31 i 
The first part of this volume deals mainly with the germination 
of the spores of Fungi, and with the methods employed for their 
further successful cultivation. It embraces also a very useful 
general account of the biology of the group. It is based on the 
axiom which we find frequently insisted on throughout the book, 
viz. “ To carry out reliable investigations in Mycology, the first and 
most essential requisite is to start with pure spore-material, to 
prepare cultures from this containing only a single spore in a 
suitable transparent nutrient medium, which must be entirely free 
from all other spores, and to follow continuously the growth of the 
mycelium from the spore throughout every stage in its development 
avoiding any possibility of contamination from outside until we 
arrive again at the production of spores similar to those with which 
we started.” 
Discussing the germination of the spores, Brefeld points out 
that the extraordinary fertility of the Fungi is rendered possible 
through the minute size of the spores, involving a small expenditure 
of material in their production, and their lightness assists naturally 
in their dissemination by currents of air. They may be considered 
as the “ plankton ” or floating organisms of the atmosphere in a 
resting condition. When the air is still they gradually sink to the 
earth, where under favourable conditions they germinate. 
As one result of the minute size of fungus spores the amount 
of stored-up food-material which they contain is usually very scanty, 
hence, in pure water either germination does not take place at all 
or only a very limited development is reached. 
Exceptions to this general rule are to be found principally in 
those forms which possess comparatively large spores and so are 
better provided with a store of food-material, and also frequently in 
the Fungi which live as parasites and hence are dependent upon 
their own resources to provide the means for their germ-tubes to 
penetrate into the tissues of the host. The Peronosporineee and 
Entomophthoraceae furnish instances of the latter. 
As examples of spores which are well provided with food- 
material, the chlamydospores, zoospores and oospores of the 
Phycomycetes and the teleutospores of the Uredineae may be 
mentioned. Many of these, however, which are generally provided 
with a thick cell-wall will germinate only after they have passed 
through a resting-stage of longer or shorter duration. 
To preserve spores of this kind, so as to maintain their vitality 
until the requisite period of rest has elapsed, Brefeld recommends, 
after obtaining the spores in as pure a condition as possible by 
repeated washing and centrifuging, that they should be mixed with 
white, sterilised, powdered glass and spread on the surface of clean, 
pure sand contained in a flower-pot and kept moist by the addition 
of sterilised water supplied from below. The powdered glass is to 
be covered with a layer of clean, well-washed, damp moss and the 
flower-pot should be kept in a cool place, sufficiently lighted. From 
time to time samples may be removed, the spores separated from 
the powdered glass and sown in water until germination is found to 
take place. Sclerotia which may require likewise a period of rest 
may be similarly treated. 
With respect to the greater number of fungus-spores which 
will not germinate in pure water, these are as a rule adapted to live 
