It was not till De Bary (1866) made known the true nature of parasitic Fungi, based on his researches between 1853-1863, that the vast domain of epidemic diseases of plants was opened up to fruitful investigation, and such modern treatises as those of Frank (1880 and L895), Sorauer (1886), Kirchner (1890), were gradually made possible.
In 1865 De Bary suggested the possibility that such lichens as Collema, Ephebe, &c., arose as a result of the attack of parasitic Ascomycetes upon the algae, Nostoc, Chroococcus, &c. In 1867 the observations of Famintzin and Baranetzky showed that the gonidia, in certain cases, were able to live outside the lichen-thallus, and in the case of Physcia, Evernia and Cladonia were able to form zoospores.
Usnea, Cladonia, Physcia, Parmelia, Calicium, many species of Lecidea, &c., Trentepohlia (Chroolepus) umbrina in many species of Verrucaria, Graphidieae and Lecidea; Palmella botryoides in Epigloea; Pleurococcus vulgaris in Acarospora, Dermatocarpon, Catillaria; Dactylococcus infusionum in Solorina, Nephromia; After Sachs, from De Bary's Vergleichende Morphologie and Biologie der Pilze, Mycetozoen and Bacterien, by permission of Wilhelm Engelmann.
The paraphyses; (which may be absent entirely in the Pyrenolichens) are erect, colourless filaments which are After Tulasne, from De Bary's Vergleichende Morphologie and Biologie der Pilze, Mycetozoen and Bacterien, by permission of Wilhelm Engelmann.
In illustration of the very different estimates that have been made, however, may be mentioned that of De Bary in 1872 of 150,000 species, and that of Cooke in 1895 of 40,000, and Massee in 1899 of over 50,000 species, the fact being that no sufficient data are as yet to hand for any accurate census.
