480 Durand : Classification of the Fleshy Pezizineae 



posed of large, polygonal, thin-walled cells. Those at the base 

 are quite regular, 20-50 fi in diameter, the inner ones being slightly 

 smaller. The hypothecium is also pseudo-parenchymatous, but 

 the cells are quite small, being only about 10/i in diameter. 



Review of the Pezizaceae. — It will be noted from the foregoing 

 descriptions that two types of tissue are found in the sterile layers 

 of the Pezizaceae. In the first place there is the pseudo-paren- 

 chyma of rounded cells which show little trace of their hyphal 

 origin. This tissue is the common one, occurring in a large pro- 

 portion of the forms studied. Secondly, there is the tissue com- 

 posed of coarse, loosely interwoven hyphae, usually much bent and 

 septated. This is also a common form, and very frequently oc- 

 curs associated with the first type. Very rarely is it the only form 

 present. Between these two types we have all gradations even in 

 the same plant.* 



Family ASCOBOLACEAE 



A thorough and comprehensive study of this group was pub- 

 lished by Boudier in 1869. No other family of the Pezizineae, 

 perhaps, has been treated in so thorough a manner. The writer 

 found throughout the family a great uniformity in the structure of 

 the sterile organs. He described a subhymenial layer composed 

 of small cells closely compacted. Beneath is a stratum of pseudo- 

 parenchyma formed generally of interlacing filaments and com- 

 posed of oblong rounded cells. The surface is covered by a thin 

 membrane. 



(Mull.) Karst. PI. 29, Fig. 6 



The plants of this species usually grow thickly crowded on cow 

 dung in the spring. The cups are obconical, sessile, and orange- 

 red, with the outer surface beset with long hyaline pili. 



* Pyronema omphalloides Bull. — This genus was removed by SchrSter [(2), p« 

 176] in 1894 from the Pezizaceae, and associated with three other small genera to form 

 a new family, the Pyronemaceae. 



I have not been able to obtain very satisfactory sections of this species from the 

 material at hand. Enough, however, can be made out in them to make certain the 

 pseudo-parenchymatous nature of the whole sterile portion. This may be seen also in 

 the diagrammatic figure given byde Bary. The tissue is composed of small, polygonal, 

 thin-walied cells, which become larger toward the base. Under the apothecium we 

 find the layer of long, slender hyphae composing the subiculura. 



