54 Cincinnati^i^oiety of NaUiral History. 



THE MYCOLOOIC FLORA OF THE 31 1 A 31 1 VALLEY, O. 



By A. P. Morgan. 



FUNGI, Linn. 



Fungi are Thalloph^'tes which grow upon organic substances, usu- 

 ally dead or decaying animal or vegetable matter, and derive their 

 nourishment from them ; they are destitute of chlorophyll, the green 

 coloring matter of plants, and are therefore incapable of assimilation. 



The whole process of development of a fungus ma}' be divided into 

 two periods ; first, from the spore is produced a mycelium ; secondly', 

 out of the mj'celium the fructification subsequently arises. The my- 

 celium consists of filaments simple or branched, and single or variously 

 associated. The m^^celium creeps in or upon the substratum which 

 nourishes it out of which it absorbs the useful materials. The fructi- 

 fication consists of simple or branched filaments, bearing the spores at 

 their extremities ; these threads are either separate and free from each 

 other, or the}' grow closel}' compacted together forming a hymenium. 

 The h^'raenium is either naked and exposed, and borne upon a recep- 

 tacle, or it is inclosed in a, peridium or a perithecium. The spores are 

 either produced naked at the extremities of the filaments or they arise 

 inside their sac-like swollen terminal cells ; in the former case the 

 supporting cell or filament takes the name of basiclium, in the latter it 

 is called an ascus. 



TABLE OF CLASSES OF FUNGL 



A. Spores naked. 



a. Hymenium present. 



1. HvMENOMYCETES. — Ilymcnium free, mostly naked or soon exposed. 



2. Gasteuomycetes. — Hymenium inclosed in a peridium, which is 

 ruptured when mature. 



h. Hymenium absent. 



3. CoNiOMYCETES. — Sporcs mostl}' terminal on inconspicuous threads. 



4. Hyphcmycetes. — Spores on conspicuous threads. 



B. Spores contained in asci. 



5. PnYSOMYCETES. — Fcrtilc cells seated on threads not compacted 

 into a hymenium. 



0. AscoMYCETES. — Asci formed from the fertile cells of a hymenium. 



