CRYPTOGAMS. 



The cryptogamic or flowerless plants, ^. e., those having neither stamens 

 nor pistils, and which are propagated by spores, are divided, according to 

 Dr. Hooper, into the following four classes: — Pteridophyta or vascular 

 acrogens, represented by the ferns, club-mosses, etc. ; Bryophyta or cel- 

 lular acrogens, represented by the musci, scale-mosses, etc. ; Algfe, repre- 

 sented by the " Red Seaweeds," Diatomacse, etc. ; Fungi or Amphigens, 

 which include the molds, mildews, mushrooms, etc. The lichens, accord- 

 ing to the " Schwendener HyiDotheses," consist of ascigerous fungi para- 

 sitic on alofae. 



FUNGI. 



Botanists unite in describing the jjlants of this class as being destitute 

 of chlorophyll and of starch. These plants assume an infinite variety of 

 forms, and are propagated by spores which are individually so minute as 

 to be scarcely perceptible to the naked eye. They are entirely cellular, 

 and belong to the class Amphigens, which for the most part have no de- 

 terminate axe, and develop in every direction, in contradistinction to the 

 Acrogens, which develop from the summit, possessing an axe, leaves, ves- 

 sels, etc. 



Fungi are divided by systematists into two great classes : 



1. Sporifera, in which the spores are free, naked, or soon exposed. 



2. Sporidifera, in which the spores are not exposed, but instead are en- 

 closed in minute cells or sacs, called asci. 



These classes are again subdivided, according to the disposition of the 

 spores and of the spore-bearing surface, called the hymenium, into various 

 families. 



The sj)oriferous fungi are arranged into four families, viz : 



1. Hymejiomycetes, in which the hymenium is free, mostly naked, or 

 soon exposed. Example, '•^Common Meadotc 3Iushroom.'' 



2. Gasteromycetes, in which the hymenium is enclosed in a second case 

 or wrapper, called a peridium, which ruptures when mature, thus releas- 

 ing the spores. Example, Com.rt%on Puff Ball. 



. 3. Coniomycetes, in which the spores are naked, mostly terminal on in- 

 conspicuous threads, free or enclosed in a perithecium. Dust-iike fungi. 

 Example, Must of Wheat. 



4. Hyphomycetes, in which the spores are naked on conspicuous 

 threads, rarely compacted, Thread-like fungi. Example, Blue Mold. 



Of these four subdivisions of the Sporifera, only the Hymenomycetes 

 and the Gasteromycetes contain plants of the mushroom family, and these 

 two together constitute the class known as the Basidiomycetes. The 

 chief distinction of the Basidiomycetes is that the naked spores are borne 

 on the summits of certain supporting bodies, termed basidia. These 

 basides are swollen, clulj-shaped cells, surmounted by four minute tubes 

 or spore-bearers, called sterigmata, each of which carries a spore. See 

 Figs. 3 and 4, Plate A. 



