278 FUNGI. 



The fourth order of envelope fungi (Myxogastres) con- 

 tains a comparatively uninteresting set of plants. In 

 their youth they are soft, but presently they become a 

 mass of threads and dusty spores. They are furnished 

 with an envelope, which keeps the plant in shape till 

 nearing maturity, when it tears and the dusty contents 

 become diffused. Masses of yellow dust lying upon the 

 sward, or umber dust, in similar situations, represent 

 exploded individuals, or clusters of Reticularia, or iEth- 

 alium. A little Didymium, which I found in numbers 

 on a dead leaf, belongs to this order. It looked like a 

 miniature Agaric made of silver paper, and the envelope 

 showed scales on its surface under the lens. The Arcyria 

 group contains some pretty species. The Eed Arcyria 

 (A. punicea, Plate XIX., Jig. 7) grows in abundance on 

 dead wood. In Kent, Wilts, and Yorks I have found 

 its clustering heads full of vermillion dust ; the top of the 

 envelope soon gives way and then the spores escape. In 

 Trichia the envelope tears lengthways, and the species 

 are without stems ; they are common in hollow trees and 

 under dead leaves (Trichia Turbinata, Plate XIX., Jig. 8). 



The fifth and last group of envelope fungi is called 

 Xidulariaceae, or birds-nest fungi. It is possessed of 

 marked characteristics, the spores being packed in various 

 egg-like parcels, and the eggs enclosed in a tough or 

 woody envelope, well compared to a bird's nest, and to 

 which the eggs are attached by a spiral cord, which 

 uncoils when the seeds are ripe, and jerks the little par- 

 cel out, as a bird shoves its timid or lazy brood into 

 freedom and independence. 



In the shady depths of Kingswood, near Congres- 



