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VIII. On the Structure and Life-History of Entyloma Ranunculi (Bonorden). 
By H. Marshall Ward, M.A., F.L.S., Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and. 
Professor of Botany in the Indian Civil Engineering College (Forestry School), 
Cooper s Hill. 
Communicated by W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S., Director of the 
Royal Gardens, Kew. 
Received October 12,—Read November 25, 188G. 
[Plates 10-13.] 
The attention of mycologists has been long directed to the study of the Ustilaginete, 
not only on account of their morphological peculiarities, but even more especially 
because the economic questions arising from their relations to our crops, &c., have 
assumed such proportions as to force this group of parasites far into the foreground. 
Interesting and important as are the parasitic habits of the Ustilaginese, however, and 
much as they have been investigated, it has to be admitted that we know as yet very 
little about them. Two or three of the most common forms, it is true, have been so 
often studied by different observers that they may be regarded as worked out 
sufficiently to allow of our regarding them as types ; but it needs no very extensive 
acquaintance with the group to satisfy ourselves that the best known forms are not 
the simplest, and that much still remains to be accomplished in this large group. It 
is not only that the Ustilagineee are so minute, but they are so peculiarly modified, and 
so specialised as parasites, that the most careful observation is necessary in making out 
the numerous points in their structure; in addition, observers still differ considerably 
as to the interpretation of some of the facts of structure which are established. 
Taking the most recent systems * of classification, we may regard the Ustilaginem 
as comprising the following genera, Ustilago, Tilletia, Sorosporium, Urocystis, Schizo- 
nella, and Entyloma, and so far shall be in accordance with all the modern authorities ; 
when we come to such genera as Geminella, Sphacelotheca, Doassansia (Cornu), and 
Graphiola (Fischer) and some others, the matter becomes more complicated, and 
special investigations are still needed to determine the limits of the genera and group. 
Entyloma, however, is a well-established genus,t and now includes some fifteen or 
* E . g ., De Bary, ‘Morphol. d. Pilze,’ p. 186, and Winter, ‘ Rabenhorst’s Kryptogamen-Flora,’ p. 80. 
t De Bary, ‘ Botan. Zeitnng,’ 1874, p. 101. Schroeter, in Cohn’s ‘ Beitriige Biol. Pflanz.,’ vol. 2, pp. 308 
and 439. 
