124 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



NOTES ON SOME OF OUR SMALLER 

 FUNGI. 



By G. E. Massee. 



No. III. 



{Continued from page 86.] 



RECENTLY the Myxomycetes have undergone 

 a complete revision, and contrasted with old 

 arrangements, the characters are mostly derived 

 from microscopic details of the internal structure, 

 more especially of the capillitium, or network of 

 threads which in some shape or other usually ac- 

 companies the spores. Contrary to what might have 

 been expected, this arrangement, based on, in some 

 instances, very minute differences, has resulted in a 



Fig. 137. — Group of some of our Smaller Fungi. — No. x,Tremella 

 wesentc?ica (natural size) ; 2, Section of same, showing 

 threads with basidia and spores; 3, Comatricha friesiana 

 (natural size) ; 4, Capillitium much enlarged ; 5, Portion of 

 capillitium of same with spores (highly magnified). 



reduction of the supposed number of species. The 

 genus Trichia in the "Handbook of British Fungi," 

 includes fourteen species, whereas in the " Myxomy- 

 cetes of Great Britain " all are considered as forms of 

 four species, and from the analysis given in the latter 

 may be distinguished as follows : T. chrysosperma, 

 spores with a thickened network of polygonal meshes ; 

 T. varia, " elaters cylindrical, with two spirals, 

 separated by a space three or four times their 

 diameter;" T.fallax, hollow of stem and sporangium 

 continuous ; threads frequently branched ; T.fragilis, 

 hollow of stem and sporangium separated by a 

 membrane; T. flagellifer of the "Handbook," con- 

 stitutes a new genus, Prototrichia, characterised by 



having the threads fixed by one end to the lower 

 part of the sporangium. They are all minute, varying 

 in form from pear-shaped to round and sessile, colour 

 usually some subdued shade of yellow or brown, and 

 are generally more conspicuous after the sporangium 

 has burst, as the threads and spores then form 

 powdery heaps, sometimes of a very bright yellow. 

 Their usual habitat is rotten stumps or dead wood. 

 A minute plant with a thin, black, shining stem 

 supporting an ovate, or sometimes globular head, 

 which is at first pale, afterwards dark brown, is not 

 uncommon on rotten wood, and when the skin and 

 spores have fallen the capillitium of curved threads 

 forming an intricate network is a very pretty object 

 under a low power of the microscope. This is 

 Comatricha friesiana — the genus is closely allied to 

 Stemonitis, but is distinguished by the columella 

 becoming broken up into network before it reaches 

 the top of the sporangium, and, further, the outer 

 threads of the network are never parallel to the 

 investing membrane or peridium. One of the largest 

 British representatives of the present order is Rett- 

 culdria lycoperdon, common on stumps and fallen 

 branches, looking something like a large slug sticking 

 to the wood, of a silvery grey, and filled with a 

 powdery mass of reddish-brown spores mixed with 

 branched threads. Lycogala epidendnim is a plant 

 not likely to be passed without notice, especially in 

 the young state. It grows in clusters, more or less 

 globular. Each plant is the size of a pea or larger ; 

 at first rose-colour or blood-red, afterwards brownish- 

 red ; the outside is rough with warts. Sptimaria 

 alba, during its early stage at least, scarcely agrees 

 with our ideal of a plant, even after some acquaintance 

 with the oddities of form and texture presented by 

 members of the fungal alliance. At first it appears 

 as a mass of white frothy substance of considerable 

 size and no definite form, usually attached to blades 

 of grass or twigs. By degrees the mass acquires a 

 firmer texture, a very thin, tender bark is formed, 

 and the interior substance is arranged in a branched 

 coral-like manner, enclosing myriads of dark spinulose 

 spores. In the genus Arcyria, the sporangium is 

 furnished with an evident stem, and when the spores 

 are ripe, the upper half of the sporangium disappears, 

 the lower half remaining fixed to the stem, and 

 resembling a wine-glass in miniature. The threads 

 near the outside of the capillitium are usually more 

 strongly marked with spines or warts than the internal 

 ones. A. cincrea, one of the commonest, at least in 

 our own district, has an ovate head on a slender long 

 stem : dull yellow ; after dehiscence the threads and 

 spores are usually pale lilac or reddish-grey, on 

 rotten stumps. The species of Craterium, at least 

 the typical forms, are easily recognised by the 

 presence of a white lid, or operculum, closing the 

 opening of the stalked sporangium. In C. vulgare 

 and C. pyriforme the operculum is white. The two 

 are distinguished by the relative length of the stem, 



