76 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



enough when bursting through the volva : it attains a 

 growth of from four to six inches. The hymenium is 

 deliquescent when mature : — Phallus impudicus ; fre- 

 quent, and when not visible to the eye, sensible, by 

 the sickening odour which it diffuses, to the smell. 



On a hedge bank at Chingford Hatch, near Wood- 

 ford, some years ago, we gathered specimens of a 



curious plant belonging to another family of the 

 Gasteromycetes, viz., Nidularia striata (may be 

 there now) ; the peridium, or rather the receptacle, 

 in this tribe is open and cyathiform when fully deve- 

 loped, and the spores though produced on sporophores, 

 are compacted into little globose bodies, of which 

 there are several in each receptacle, and each of them 



65U XfL* <& v 



Fig, 62, — Hydnum rejrandum ; a. spines 

 magnified. 



1 % mm'^ 



Fig. 63. — Smooth hymenium and strigoso-hirsute 

 pileus of Stereum hirsutum. 



Fig. 64.— Papillose hy- 

 menium and spores of 

 the same, quaternate 

 on sporophores. 



Fig. 65. — ThelepJwra laciniata (upper and under surfaces). 



attached by a 



Fig. 68. — Spinulose warts on 

 the cuticle of Lycoperdon 

 gemmatum (enlarged). 



Fig. 67. — Clavaria cristata. 



Fig. 69. — Section of a Sclero- 



k derma, showing the central 



purplish-black mass of cells. 



Fig. (6. — Clavaria fusiformis. 



filament to its base. These 

 gregarious ; something of similar 



plants are 



growth may be observed on the fronds of certain 



species of Marchantia. 



Of the Ascomycetous order, also, we found 

 a few interesting fungi, viz., Xylaria hypoxylon, 

 from the base of an old gate-post ; Peziza 

 vesicularis, from a dunghill ; and a Sphseria or 

 two from the dead branches of trees. The 

 fructification in plants of this order consists of 

 sporidia (compound spores) enclosed in cases 

 called asci, either free or immersed in the 

 substance (stroma) of the fungus.* 



Peziza vesicularis is common : the matrix is 

 rotten hay or straw haulms. The sporidia are 

 eight in number, and, closely packed with the 



* Similar to what obtains in lichens, except that no 

 shields are developed for the purpose. 



