10 



COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF FUNGI 



they are products of meiosis, they have become constant in number, which 

 is usually fixed at 8 or 4; biologically, in the higher forms they are hypno- 

 spores. If the sporogenous cells which serve as gonotoconts form their 

 spores endogenously through free cell formation, they are called asci and 

 the spores ascospores (Fig. 81) ; if they are formed exogenously by cutting 

 off spores, they are called basidia and their spores, basidiospores (Fig. 

 265, 7 to 14). " 



Fig. 8. — Septoria. Pycnium. (After Klebahn.) 



Both these sporophore types functioning as gonotoconts show the 

 same collectivistic tendency as the sporophores of the haplont. They 

 collect in groups or in layers on which they stand beside each other in 

 palisades which are called hymenia. The hymenia develop in typical 

 gymnocarpous or angiocarpous fructifications whose structure is always 

 highly differentiated. As only in these highest groups do the gonoto- 

 conts become sporophores and especially as the gonotocont fructifications 

 are the only ones visible to the naked eye, the gonotoconts of the groups in 

 question (asci and basidia) are called the perfect forms, the other spore 

 forms are called imperfect or secondary spore forms. 



