THE ERGOT OF RYE, ETC 
121 
short period a size four or five times larger than that attained 
by any healthy grain of the same plant in the same period. 
The last stage of the ergot is, that it has elongated much be- 
yond the palese that once inclosed it; and puts on a violet-black 
colour, from the diminution of the filaments and particles that 
infested it previously. Its length is found to vary in this state 
from halfaninchto one inch and a half, in different specimens. 
Its form is seldom cylindrical, more frequently obscurely tri- 
angular, each side being marked with a furrow, one of them 
being generally deeper, and more conspicuous than the other 
two: besides these natural marks, there are a variety of cracks 
and fissures extending in many different directions. Either 
end of the ergot is inclined to be pointed, but the lower end 
more so, and presents a rather smooth extremity or cicatrix, 
by which it is articulated to the receptacle, between the two 
scales seen in figs. 4, 5, 6, (e e.) which are not destroyed by the 
unnatural growth that springs from between them, and it is 
extraordinary thatPhilippar makes no mention of these bodies 
at the base of the ergot. The summit of the ergot is surmount- 
ed (in those specimens which have been carefully gathered) 
by a small body, which is composed of the remains of the 
styles, the hairy crown, and a certain portion of the withered 
grain, as at figs. 5, 6, (h h); this body does not exist on the 
majority of specimens that are procured in the shops, because 
a very trifling force is sufficient to separate it from the apex 
of the ergot. 
These observations are such as can be easily made with very 
little microscopic assistance, and have been probably witness- 
ed by those who have previously paid attention to this subject, 
and who have given us various opinions respecting its nature; 
most of which tend to the describing the ergot as a particular 
fungus, to which We have the different names given by the 
following botanists, viz. Sphacelia segetumby Leveille; Scle- 
rotium clavus by De Candolle; Clavaria clavus by Miinch- 
hausen; and lastly, Spermoedia clavus by Fries, who considers 
it more analagous to a diseased grain than to any species of 
fungus. 
vol. v. — NO. II 16 
