254 Wuire: THE NIDULARIACEAE OF NoRTH AMERICA 
For a long time the Nidulariaceae seemed to be a bone of ‘con- 
tention among various botanical writers, in the fact of their appar- 
ently differing from other fungi in having true and visible seeds.* 
In 1688 Camerarius published a dissertation ‘de Fungo calyci- 
formi seminifero,” setting forth his ideas on the subject and claim- 
ing that these fungi had seeds. Marsigli in 1713, on the contrary, 
tried to exclude what he calls “these simple plants” from the 
fungi, no fungi having true seeds as these plants seemed to have. 
In 1714 Tournefort was also inclined to exclude them from the. 
fungi, but Ant. de Jussieu in 1728, denied these propositions, and 
claimed emphatically that fungi have seeds like true plants. Forty 
years later fungi were still being classed outside of the vegetable 
kingdom, particularly so because the sporangioles of Cyai/ius were 
never seen to germinate. Necker in 1783 wanted to make an 
intermediate kingdom to consist of the fungi, and Pico five years 
later, said that he had absolutely proved that the nature of these 
productions was purely animal. In 1791, Bulliard incontestibly 
proved that all fungi have seed, but he called the sporangioles of 
Cyathus seeds, and added ‘that they seem somewhat out of pro-- 
portion to the size of the fungus.” Hoffman says “ potius caps@ 
seminalis quam semen ipsum ’’—“ they are less seeds than capsules 
filled with seeds,” while Micheli said that the spores are hard to 
see with a good magnifying glass. 
These fungi have had several popular names, probably owing 
to their quaint and attractive appearance. Besides the well-know® 
name of “ bird’s-nest fungi,” as far back as 1724 they have been 
‘‘called in Worchestershire cornbells, where they grow plenti- 
fully,”’+ and in Lincolnshire “ we find that a kind of fungus like 4 
cup or old-fashioned purse with small objects inside is called a 
‘fairy purse’ and we presume that the small objects represent the 
fairies’ cash.” t 
Synopsis of the Genera of the Nidulariaceae 
Sporangioles attached to the inner wall of the peridium. 
Peridium composed of three layers; spores mixed with filaments. I. CYATHIA- 
x . : —Talesne’s 
Most of what follows in this paragraph is translated and adapted from Tulasne 
monograph, pages 54-56, as several of the works referred to were unfortunately unob- 
tainable. 
Tf Ray, Syn. Ed, 3, 2:-20. 1724. 
} Friend, Flower Lore, 34. 1889. 
