THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, FebUuary 3, 1857. 300 
blossom, and. instead of being as usual narrow, was a quarter 
of an inch or more in width, and very much compressed on the 
sutural side ; and on opening the young carpels, their inner 
surface, and in some cases even the placenta, was infested 
with the white spots of the rust. In some cases every 
flower and pod was affected; in others the mischief was con¬ 
fined to two or three upon a stalk, so as not to prevent en- 
; tirely the production of seeds. Nothing, indeed, could well 
I present a more singular appearance than the plant with 
! its swollen and distorted leaves, its occasionally abortive 
panicles, of which nothing remained but rose-like tufts formed 
by the gouty stem leaves, and, above all, the powdery heads 
of buds and the pendant fleshy flowers as large as those of 
Albuca major, and with somewhat of the same green and 
yellow aspect. 
I was greatly disappointed, on a minute comparison of the 
flowers and unripe seed-vessels with those in a normal con¬ 
dition, to find that there was no essential derangement of the 
I fundamental structure, no metamorphosis properly so called, 
j but simply an enlargement of all the parts, and a general 
| looseness and hypertrophy in the cellular tissue, arising 
j partly, perhaps, from the stimulating effect of the myce¬ 
lium, and partly from the mere mechanical agency of its 
growth. The dissepiment alone was in proportion far 
narrower than usual, and extremely delicate, as though the 
placenta had been enlarged at its expense. There was 
! nothing to throw any light on the true import of the parts of 
the carpels, the arrangement of the cellular structure being 
absolutely the same in both instances, though infested 
everywhere with the mycelium. 
It should be observed, that wherever the mycelium did 
not penetrate, everything presented a perfectly natural 
appearance without any indication of disease; nor, indeed, 
is there any reason for supposing that a diseased condition 
of the tissues preceded the growth of the fungus, which in 
that case would be a mere after-organisation. Were the fungus 
in the first instance external, there might be some shadow of 
foundation for such an opinion ; but the cuticle is perfectly 
closed till the mass of spores has burst through it, and the 
sori, as noticed above, made their appearance in the closed 
cavities of the carpels exactly as Botrytis infest ans, as ob¬ 
served by Payen and myself last autumn, in the fruit of the 
Tomato, where there was no immediate communication with 
the atmosphere. And the case is even stronger in some other 
fungi, especially in Granularia viola;, Sow., which has not 
been observed for many years, and had been quite misunder¬ 
stood till its appearance in Captain Munro’s conservatory, near 
Clifton, last winter, and (as recorded by Professor Forbes*) 
in Portland during April of the present year. In that 
curious production the spores are deeply seated, and the 
sori do not burst, if they burst at all, till the whole parasite 
has been long perfectly developed. 
The influence of fungi, however, on perfectly healthy 
tissues is now an established fact. The case of bunt is a 
well-known example, the spores of which constantly re- 
produce the disease; and if instances are not sufficiently 
satisfactory in the vegetable kingdom, we have only to turn 
to the facts recorded respecting the origin of the disease of 
silkworms, called Muscardiue, from the spores of a species 
of Botrytis, to show that fungi do not grow exclusively on 
languishing or decaying organisms. Prejudice to the con¬ 
trary is so very strong and general, and is still in ignorance 
of facts bearing on the subject, so often put forward, 
that the real state of the' case requires to be frequently 
pointed out; especially since incorrect preconceptions on 
this subject may be of very evil consequence in minute re¬ 
search as to the origin of disease both in the animal and 
vegetable kingdom. 
Almost every one is now agreed as to the real nature of 
Uredineoe since the observations of Leveille and Corda. 
which have been confirmed by a host of microscopical ob¬ 
servers. Only a few German speculators, in their zeal for 
| spontaneous or equivocal generation, still adhere to the 
I views of Unger, that they are mere transformations of the 
I issues from which they spring, An incidental observation 
| to this eifept oppvu's ip ft* late number of the fiotanwhe 
\ ZeVwp 
i * In Viola odarata, when sttaoked by fljoldlum viola, l hava seen tha 
! stipules ftMume tha form of psrfse. leaves in sanssquenss of the jengtsl 
| hlWHaaee of the plfltUi 
The structure of the white rust of which we have been 
speaking differs so much from that of most other allied 
forms, that it is strange that it should not have been ascer¬ 
tained before. There is, indeed, in the work of Unger, on 
what he calls the Exanthemata of plants, a correct figure as 
far as it goes, tab. VI. f. 32, but he has merely given the 
cysts from which the spores spring, each terminated by a 
single globose spore. This is the more remarkable, because 
he was the first to describe the spores of iEcidium as 
arranged in moniliform threads, a structure which has been 
beautifully illustrated by Corda, and which any one can 
easily convince himself is correct. The moniliform threads 
are not less visible in the white rust, and the spores are 
connected with each other by a short cylindrical process 
exactly as in some species of Oidium. The best way to 
observe the structure, as, indeed, is the case with all 
epiphytal fungi when practicable, is to make a thin vertical 
section which will exhibit not only the necklaces of spores, 
but the obovate cysts from which they spring, and the 
curious, irregularly branched, often thick and nodose greenish 
mycelium, which, as Mr. Broome correctly observed to me, 
resembles more in form and general habit the structure of 
Hccmatococcus Almanni than any other vegetable substance. 
Besides this irregular thick mycelium, there arc also fine 
mucedinous threads which penetrate deeper into and amongst 
the tissues of the matrix, and resemble the more usual form 
of mycelium in Uredinere. The figure of the general 
structure of the species is by Mr. G. H. Hoffmann, that of 
the younger state by Mr. Broome, and that of diseased 
panicles of a sugar-loaf Cabbage by Miss A. Vidal, who has 
made some pleasing contributions to Miss Henslow’s 
“ Ocean Flowers.” 
Dr. Leveille has described the genus under the name of 
Cystopus with very correct characters. It is to be wished, 
however, that he had adopted Schweinitz and Rabenhorst’s 
sectional name of Albugo (Rab., Crypt. FI., Vol. i. p. 13), 
which is far more expressive; and, as a general principle, 
sectional names ought certainly to be adopted when the 
sections are raised to the rank of genera. Whether there 
be more than one species of Cystopus is, perhaps, doubtful, 
though the spores differ somewhat in form. Now that the 
true structure of the genus is ascertained, attention may be 
turned to the question with greater probability of a satis¬ 
factory result. 
I observe iu conclusion, that Cylindrosporium of Greville 
has nothing to do either with the present plant, or what 
Unger has referred to that generic name. An opportunity 
of inspecting a perfect authentic specimen of this plant, which 
does not seem to have been observed by any other myco¬ 
logist, has shown that it belongs to another group, the spores, 
which are very minute, oozing forth in irregular masses, and 
in fact allied to Nemaspora. Dr. Leveille’s observation, then, 
as far as Dr. Greville’s plant is concerned, requires correc¬ 
tion.— (Horticultural Society's Journal.) 
FERNS AND LYCOPODS IN A GLASS CASE. 
The description of my case, with its miniature rockery of 
Ferns and Lycopods, which you inserted in The Cottage 
Gardener, No. 421, has elicited from your readers questions 
touching its management, <fcc. For their information I send 
the following additional particulars. 
The rockwork consists of coral, shells, quartz, and stones, 
fastened together by plaster of Paris, having as a basis a 
zinc bottom, the parts of which are not covered with the 
rockwork, being overlaid with moss. The Ferns and Lyco¬ 
pods (enumerated in the above No.) were inserted in a com¬ 
post of sandy, fibrous peat, turfy loam, and leaf-mould, in 
which they have succeeded admirably, due regard being paid 
to ventilation, frequently admitting air, and giving water 
judiciously, and, when not too powerful, submitting the whole 
case to the influence of the sun. With this treatment the 
plants have grown most satisfactorily, and are now covering 
the rookery with their graceful foliage and evergreen ver¬ 
dure, which cannot fail to gratify tha eye that rests upon it. 
P. C,, Scelctton Pmonage, Prmot, 
