230 MILES JOSEPH BERKELEY 



and consist mainly of critical notes on the morphology and 

 affinities of the fungi under consideration, and will compel the 

 attention of mycologists for all time. 



From the above brief account it may perhaps be concluded 

 that Berkeley was essentially a systematist and founder of new 

 species. Owing to the vast amount of material that passed 

 through his hands, he was so perforce, but his leaning was 

 always rather towards the biological and morphological side of 

 the subject. 



Morphology and Literature. 



The first important paper dealing with the morphology of 

 the hymenial structure in Fungi, is entitled, "On the Fructifi- 

 cation of the Pileate and Clavate Tribes of the Hymenomycetous 

 Fungi," Annals of Nat. Hist., 1838. Here is clearly demon- 

 strated for the first time, the universal occurrence of basidia 

 bearing spores at their summit, throughout the entire group of 

 fungi known to-day as the Hymenomycetes, including Agari- 

 caceae, Thelephoraceae, Clavariaceae, etc. This important 

 discovery rendered possible the basis of a classification on 

 morphological grounds, which holds good at the present day. 

 A careful study of the text and illustrations demonstrates the 

 fact that Berkeley was perfectly well acquainted with all the 

 essential details of the hymenium, many of which have been 

 repeatedly rediscovered and described under new names, in 

 ignorance of the fact that such structures had previously been 

 equally well described. 



Berkeley continued his investigations on the structure of the 

 hymenium, and his next paper, entitled " Sur la fructification 

 des genres Lycoperdon, Phallus et de quelques autres genres 

 voisins," in Annal. Sci. Nat. Ser. 2, vol. XII. (1839), demonstrated 

 the universal presence of basidia bearing spores at their 

 summit in the family now known as the Gasteromycetes. This 

 research on the part of Berkeley led to the universal adoption 

 of the two primary divisions of the Fungi ; Basidiomycetes, 

 having the spores borne at the apex of a basidium ; and 

 Ascomycetes, having the spores produced within specialised 

 sacs, or asci. 



