304 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts, and Letters. 
Ascomycetes and in his lectures declared that a relationship might 
exist between the two groups. 
Tulasne (1867) described the fusion of the sex organs of Pyro- 
nema conflnens. Janczenski (1871) discovered the origin of the 
ascogenous hyphae in Ascoholus furfuraceus and established their 
relation to the asci, thereby verifying the predictions of de Bary. 
In 1883 Kuhlman substantiated the statements of Janzewski as to 
the origin of the asci. Sach (1875) developed views similar to de 
Bary’s. He noted the similarity of the archicarp of the fungi 
to the procarp of the red algae, and believed the fungi were derived 
from the red algae. 
Opposed to the views of de Bary were those of Brefeld (1879) and 
Van Tieghem (1891). Brefeld maintained that the fungi pos¬ 
sessed no sexual characters. He attributed only a vegetative 
character to the fusions. The ascus was considered comparable to 
a sporangium of the lower fungi, the spores being produced endo¬ 
genously in the ascus as in the sporangium. The Ascomycetes 
were derived from the Phycomycetes through such forms as 
Thamnidium and Mortierella. His theory was based on the assump¬ 
tion that the sporangium through evolution had become an ascus. 
As we shall see later, this theory rests on poor evidence. Due to 
the work of Harper and others, it was clearly shown that the two 
organs are not homologous. In the Oomycetes the spores are pro¬ 
duced by progressive cleavage, whereas in Ascomycetes the spores 
are delimited by astral radiations from the centrosome-like body 
of the ascus nuclei. 
Van Teighem (1891) expressed the view that the archicarp is 
perhaps only an ascogenous hypha differentiated at an early period, 
and that the antheridia are part of the enveloping perithecium or 
serve as respiratory organs. 
In 1894 Dangeard, while investigating Peziza vesiculosa, dis¬ 
covered fusion of nuclei in the ascus. He maintained that the sex 
organs were no longer functional and that the ascus may be con¬ 
sidered an egg in which fertilization occurred. The archicarp and 
antheridium might be regarded as vestigial organs. Later he 
changed his views somewhat, stating that the ascogonium and 
ascogenous hyphae constitute a gametophore derived from a 
gametangium which formerly functioned in the production of 
motile gametes, but lost this function in adapting itself to the land 
habit. This conception involves the relationship of the Aseomy- 
cetes to the Oomycetes. He assumes that the ascogonium and 
