! 5 2 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



I 



A GOSSIP ABOUT FUNGI. 

 By George Massee. 



[Continued from fage 279.] 



N the second family, Gasteromycetes, the hyme- 

 nium is contained within the substance of the 

 fungus, and only exposed when quite ripe, or owing 

 to decay. The ' ' puffballs " are examples, the investing 

 skin is \he peri Jin in (fig. 157), enclosing the hymenium, 

 at first pulpy, afterwards becoming dry and powdery, 

 consisting of threads and spores ; the latter spring 

 from sterigmata, supported on basidia, as in the 



in some species intricately branched, in others free 

 and furnished with spiral markings. This order has 

 been the subject of much difference of opinion ; by 

 some they are considered as members of the animal 

 kingdom, on account of the early amoeboid stage, but 

 those most conversant with the subject agree in. 

 considering them as true fungi. 



In the Coniomycetes, there is no compacted 

 hymenium, comparative absence of mycelium or 

 vegetative part, and a superabundance of spores are 

 the most obvious features. In one group the spores 

 are at first enclosed in a covering or perithecinm^ 

 looking like microscopic puffballs, but the covering 



Fig. 149. 



Fig. 150. 



Fig. 148. 



hymenomycetes. Some members of this division are 

 stibterranean. Another section, the Myxogastres 

 differs from all other fungi, in the plants, during the 

 early or vegetative stage, being composed of naked 

 cells, which form a gelatinous mass, sometimes very 

 large, called a Plasmodium, possessed of the power 

 of motion, resulting from the amoeboid movements of 

 its component cells ; these, at a certain stage, rapidly 

 change their shape and position, owing to the pro- 

 trusion of pseudopodia from various parts of the 

 surface. Later on a skin or peridium is formed, and 

 the interior becomes filled with threads and spores ; the 

 threads collectively constitute the capillitium, and are 



Fig. 152. 



Fig. 133- 



Fig 154 



Fig. 156. 



is ruptured early, the margin being generally torn 

 into a number of teeth which fold away from the 

 centre, they are known as " cluster-cups," and are 

 met with on living leaves ; most of the species are 

 parasitic on leaves or stems of plants, living or dead, 

 in fact the order is artificially divided into two 

 sections, depending on whether they grow on living 

 or dead plants. The species are mostly microscopic, 

 the spores of those that grow on living plants are often 

 septate and bright in colour, while those that are met 

 with on dead vegetables often appear like black 

 specks or stains, with minute spores. Polymorphism 

 is well illustrated in this order, many plants that were 



