THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.—Septembku l(i, IS5G. 439 1 
w c-~ \\y) 
3 Vi 
.—Erect, threads and swollen articulations, the pre¬ 
cursors of utricles and sporangia or pycnidia, by Dr. 
Plomley. 
7 .—'Thread which has arise n from germinating granules producing li tie bud¬ 
like articulations. Dr. Plomley. 1, 1, original spore. 
@1 
—Sphceria EryBiphina, Berk, tf Br. 
Perithecium. 
Ascus. 
Sporidia. 
Fig. 9 ,—Coninporium commilitans. 
Berk, fy Br. 
-Gcrmi at rrnt ’’Is of utricles in the Vine mildew, a. One of the utricles ruptured. 
b. Granule inning to germinate. c. Various stages of germination more highly mag¬ 
nified. Tire joints marked 1, 1, are the two cells into which the granule was originally 
divided. rf. Granules germinating within the utricle. d'. Granules from Hop mildew. 
A similar scries of sketches was prepared Iry Dr. Plomley from the germination of the con¬ 
tents of the utricles of the Hop mildew, tint they have been omitted with one exception, ns 
altogether similar to thosc.of (he Vine mildew. 
Palace, in which a transformation of the arti¬ 
culations of the moniljform threads of the 
Oidinm , into what were then supposed to lie 
true sporangia, was clearly represented (Fig. 
2). This transformation was precisely like 
that which so commonly takes place in the 
genus Anlennarin, of which a few words may 
be said towards the close of the paper. It 
was not then matter of surprise so far, though 
it, might seem a priori scarcely probable that 
tlie sporangia should bo formed in two dif¬ 
ferent ways, and when the subject was men¬ 
tioned in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1851, 
p. 407, the interest attached to it was pointed 
out, though there remained some difficulty 
about the two modes of the origination of 
sporangia, for the distinction between those 
organs and others presently to be mentioned 
was not at that time ascertained. The cor¬ 
rectness of the whole was indeed called in 
question by Mr. F. J. Graham, in the number 
of the same year for Aug. 9, p. 502; but so 
many unexpected circum¬ 
stances arise in the study 
of natural history, that it 
is seldom safe to reject 
altogether any evidence 
that may be brought for¬ 
ward, because it may at 
first appear anomalous, 
however wise it may be to 
rest in a position of more 
or less philosophic doubt. 
In point of fact, such 
seeming anomalies often 
indicate latent truths, and 
when cleared up throw 
light in the most unlooked- 
for manner on matters 
which were before involved 
in obscurity. Recent ob¬ 
servations have, indeed, 
shown that Dr. Plomley's 
illustration was really of 
much importance, and the 
anomalous points have 
been, for the most part, 
elucidated by the discovery 
that the bodies into which 
