Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/312

Rh 294 M I L M I L soon germinate by pushing out a small tube which per forates the epidermis and thus gains access to the interior of the leaf, where it branches copiously, and forms a mass of thread-like tissue called mycelium. The germ-tubes of sporidia are unable to enter the leaves, &c., of grass plants. In from six to ten days this mycelium gives rise to flask- shaped bodies called spermogonia (vol. ix. p. 831, fig. 2 B, sp), immediately under the surface of the leaf (usually the upper one), but breaking through it at the neck of the flask, out of which there protrudes a bunch of hairs. Within the flasks are formed at the end of stalks many exceedingly small oval bodies called spermatia, which escape through the neck. The function of these bodies has not yet been definitely made out, but that they bear a very strik ing resemblance to the male sexual organs of other fungi there can be no doubt. In the same leaves and on the same mycelium there arise several days later numerous basin- shaped bodies containing erect stalks, bearing at the apex a number of round aecidiospores (reproductive bodies) in vertical series (vol. ix. p. 831, fig. 2 B, a). These con stitute the second generation. On their escape they germinate by emitting a tube which, if the host on which they fall be a grass plant, enters the leaf through one of the stomata in the epidermis, and there by branching forms a new mycelium. On this there soon appears, bursting through the epidermis, a new generation consisting of round or oval uredospores produced at the end of stalks (vol. ix. p. 831, fig. 2 C). The uredospores constantly reproduce this generation, and in such abundance that the grain crops are extensively ravaged by its attack. It is in this genera tion that the term mildew is popularly given to the fungus. Later in autumn on the same mycelium the two-celled teleutospores appear, and these after hibernating renew in spring the life-history. This very remarkable cycle of generations was first traced by Professor de Bary. The Hop-Mildew (Sph&rotkcca Castagnci, Lev., Order Erysi- phese) is a parasitic disease of the hop, though it is often to be found ou many other plants, such as Potcntilla, Spiraea, Epilobium, balsams, cucumbers, dandelions, plantains, &c. The thread-like mycelium appears on the young shoots and leaves of the hop in white spots, which gradually extend and finally unite. This mycelium bears many minute, round conceptacles (perithecia) which with their supporting threads are brown-coloured. Within each perithecium is found a somewhat oval body termed an ascus, con taining eight ascospores (reproductive bodies). The Vine-Mildew (Erysiphc Tuckeri, Berk., Order Erysiphese) is known only in one generation called the oidium stage. Soon after the flowering of the vine the attack takes place on the young leaves, from which the thin white mycelium spreads rapidly to the older leaves and twigs, which it does not appear to affect so injuriously. The chief damage is done to the grapes while they are in a very immature condition. The mycelium which travels over the surface sends down at intervals into the tissues short irregular protuber ances called haustoria, which perform for it the functions of roots. Above these rise from the mycelium short stalks bearing each a single oval spore at the apex. The disease spreads on the same plant not only by the extension of the mycelium but by the scattering and germination of the spores. Here no perithecia are known. The Paper- Mildew (Ascotricha chartarum, Berk., Order Erysiphese,} grows on damp paper, and therefore is saprophytic in its mode of life. It consists at first of a branching filamentous mycelium on which minute globular spores occur. Finally a round brown peri thecium is formed among the threads which appear as radiating from it. Within the perithecium are numerous linear asci contain ing each a row of dark elliptic ascospores. For the Erysiphcse generally see FUNGUS, vol. ix. p. 833. MILETUS, an ancient city on the southern shore of the Latmic Gulf opposite the mouth of the Mseander. Before the Ionic migration it was inhabited by the Carians (Ilindii. 876; Herod, i. 146); other authorities call the original people Leleges, who are always hard to distinguish from Carians. The Greek settlers from Pylus under Neleus massacred all the men in the city, and built for themselves a new city on the coast. It occupied a very favourable situation at the mouth of the rich valley of the Mseander, and was the natural outlet for the trade of southern Phrygia (Hipponax, Fr. 45) ; it had four harbours, one of considerable size. Its power extended inland for some distance up the valley of the Marauder, and along the coast to the south, where it founded the city of lasus. The trade with the Black Sea, however, was the greatest source of wealth to the Ionian cities. Miletus like the rest turned its attention chiefly to the north, and after a time it succeeded in almost monopolizing the traffic. Along the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Black Sea coasts it founded more than sixty cities among them Abydus, Cyzicus, Sinope, Dioscurias, Panticapaeum, and Olbia. All these cities were founded before the middle of the 7th century ; and before 500 B.C. Miletus was decidedly the greatest Greek city. During the time when the enter prise and energy of the seafaring population, the deivaurat, raised Miletus to such power and wealth, nothing is known of its internal history. The analogy of all Greek cities, and some casual statements in later writers, suggest that the usual bloody struggles took place between the oligarchy and the democracy, and that tyrants sometimes raised themselves to supreme power in the city ; but no details are known. Miletus was equally distinguished at this early time as a seat of literature. The Ionian epic and lyric poetry indeed had its home farther north ; philosophy and history were more akin to the practical race of Miletus, and Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Hecatseus, all belonged to this city. The three Ionian cities of Caria Miletus, Myus, and Priene spoke a peculiar dialect of Ionic. 1 When the Mermnad kings raised Lydia to be a great military kingdom, Miletus was their strongest adversary. War was carried on for many years, till Alyattes concluded a peace with Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus ; the Milesians afterwards seem to have peaceably acknowledged the rule of Croesus. On the Persian conquest Miletus passed under a new master ; it headed the revolt of 500 B.C., and was taken by storm after the battle of Lade. Darius treated it with peculiar severity, massacred most of the inhabitants, transported the rest to Ampe at the mouth of the Tigris, and gave up the city to the Carians. Henceforth the history of Miletus has no special interest ; it revived indeed when the Persians were expelled from the coast in 479 B.C., and was a town of commercial importance throughout the Grseco-Roman period, when it shared in the general fortunes of the Ionian cities under the rule of Athenians, Persians, Macedonians, Pergamenians, and Romans in succession. Its harbours, once protected by Lade and the other Tragusaean islands, were gradually silted up by the Maeander, and Lade is now a hill some miles from the coast. Ephesus took its place as the great Ionian harbour in the Hellenistic and Roman times. It was the seat of a Christian bishopric, but its decay was sure, and its site is now a marsh. See Schroeder, Comment, de Reb. Miles. ; Soldan, Rer. Miles. Comment. ; Rayet, Milet et leGolfe Latmique; Head, &quot;Early Elec- trum Coins,&quot; in Numism. C/iron., vol. xvi. MILFORD, a seaport, market-town, and contributory parliamentary borough (one of the Pembroke district) of Pembrokeshire, South Wales, is finely situated on the north side of Milford Haven, about 8 miles west- north-west of Pembroke. The land-locked estuary of Milford Haven stretches about 10 miles inland, with a 1 The coinage of Miletus during this early period is an important subject on account of the wide commercial connexions of the city. The early electrum coinage belongs to the Phoenician or Grffico-Asiatic standard, which was introduced from Phoenicia and spread over many of the Ionian and Thracian cities through the influence of Milesian trade. Very archaic coins of Miletus, Ephesus, Cyme, and Sardis are known of this standard, and at a somewhat later date of Chios, Samos, Clazomenre, Lampsacus, Abydus, and Cyzicus. The lion is the regular Milesian type, often with a star beside or above him.