The Terms Homothallism and Heterothallism

F. L. Drayton and J. W. Groves have recently 1 presented a scholarly and eloquent plea for a return to the original definitions of the terms homo- and heterothallism as proposed by A. F. Blakeslee 2 . When their arguments are carried to their logical conclusion, the authors are forced to admit: “It is undoubtedly true that the fungus that originally suggested the idea to Blakeslee is not heterothallic in the sense in which he defined the term”. I contend that an error in logic has escaped these authors in allowing them to arrive at such a conclusion.