We have derived much pleasure in viewing the astonishment and delight exhibited by friends to whom we have personally communicated specimens of the little fungi we have enumerated for examination under the microscope; and we recommend with confidence this group of parasitic plants, unfortunately so little known, as well worthy of the attention of all who are interested in the minute aspects of nature, and who can recognize the hand— “That sets a sun amidst the firmament, Or moulds a dew-drop, and lights up its gem.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II. _SPERMOGONES._ IN addition to their spore-bearing spots, lichens have for some time been known to possess other organs, termed _spermogones_, which are probably concerned more or less in the reproductive process. The first intimation of the existence of similar bodies in the entophytal fungi originated with M. Unger in 1833, but it was left to Dr. de Bary and the Messrs. Tulasne, twenty years later, to examine and determine satisfactorily the nature and value of the spermogones of the Uredines. It was at first believed that the smaller pustules—which sometimes precede, and sometimes accompany, the cluster-cups and some other allied fungi—were distinct species developed simultaneously therewith, or members of a new genus, which, under the name of _Æcidiolum exanthematum_, found a place in the mycologic system. Without staying to trace the stages through which the elucidation of their true nature proceeded, it will suffice for our purpose to tell what is now known of these secondary organs; to accomplish which we must stand greatly indebted to the independent researches of Messrs. de Bary and Tulasne. It has been demonstrated that both these bodies, namely, the primary organs or cluster-cups, and the secondary organs or spermogones, are developed from the same mycelium; but the value of the latter is still undetermined. If they possess any fecundative power, the process has not been traced; or if they are in themselves reproductive, they have not at present been seen to germinate. Their uses, therefore, in the economy of the parasitic plant of which they are now known to form a part is still a mystery, and they remain valueless in the determination of genera and species. Any speculation which might regard them as male organs would be premature, and without support in fact. Hitherto only some species of the genera described in the foregoing chapter, and others belonging to genera not hitherto named, have been ascertained to possess spermogones. Of the former are the _Rœsteliæ_, some species of _Æcidium_, as those of _Euphorbia_, &c., and _Peridermium Pini_.