A URICULARIACEAE 



293 



basidia has been applied. The epibasidia are 4-celled and bear 4 

 basidiospores. 



Platygloea includes several saprophytic, gelatinous, resupinate 

 species in which there is little evidence of a hypobasidium except 

 for a slight swelHng at the base of the basidium [Coker (1920), 

 Neuhoff (1924)]. Vhe sterigmata are elongate, extending to the 



B 



Fig. 114. Aiiricularia auricula- judae. A. Habit sketch of ear-shaped ba- 



sidiocarp. B. Diagrammatic section of hymenial surface to indicate nuclear 



activity, promycelial development, sterigmata, and basidiospores. 



surface of the gel layer before the basidiospores are formed. The 

 basidiospores have been germinated in nutrient solutions, sec- 

 ondary spores being produced under these conditions. 



The slightly more complex fruiting bodies of Saccoblastia 

 are resupinate to pulvinate and are waxy" or gelatinous in texture. 

 Several species grow saprophytically on bark [Coker (1920), 

 Linder (1929)]. In the best-known species, S. mtermedia^ the 

 peculiar hypobasidium originates as a sac-like or pyriform lateral 

 outgrowth from a cell of a dicaryon hypha, and may become 

 pendulous because of its weight. The hypobasidium gives rise 

 to a rather elongate, slender promyceUum terminating in a four- 

 celled basidium bearing uninucleate basidiospores. 



