2 6 British Funzi- 



P/iycomycetes, and further that the sexual organs 

 originate from special hyphas called ascof/enous 

 ]ujp]ia3, which are distinct from the hyphte forming 

 the remaining portion of the sporophore. According 

 to this view the whole of the asci spring from the 

 fertilized portion. Bref eld, on the contrary, considers 

 tliat sexual organs of functional value are confined to 

 the Phy corny cetesy and that the similar looking organs 

 in the Ascomycetes, even if homologous witli those of 

 the Phy corny cetes, have so far degenerated as to 

 possess no functional value, hence according to 

 Brefeld, the ascospores (th.e name given to spores 

 produced in asci) of the Ascomycetes are asexual in 

 origin. In another very large group of fungi, the 

 spores are of undoubted asexual origin. Here the 

 spores are produced externally by large specialized 

 cells called basidia. According to Brefeld there are 

 two principal types of basidia, which are adopted by 

 this author as furnishing characters for separating the 

 great group known as Basidiomy cetes or basidia- 

 bearing fungi, into two primary groups, the Proto- 

 hasidiomy cetes and the Autohas idiomy cetes . 



It has been stated that in the Phy corny cetes, or 

 sexual fungi, secondary asexual reproductive bodies 

 called gonidia are commonly present, and accepting 

 for the moment Brefeld's view that in the Ascomycetes, 

 which follow the Pliycomycetes in ascendiug order, 

 the apparent sexual organs have lost their functional 

 value, it is not denied that the ascosporous form of 

 fruit in the Ascomycetes is the homologue of the sexual 

 product in the Pliycomycetes, and it is very generally 

 accompanied by a gonidial and truly asexual form of 



