EUASCOMYCETES 



187 



of HC1 and pepsin corresponding to the gastric juice. Immature asco- 

 spores and gemmae germinate without this stimulation (Ward, 1899; 

 Brierley, 1917). 



Trichocomaceae. — The Trichocomaceae are a poorly known family 

 of the warmer regions. Trichocoma paradoxa (E. Fischer, 1890) grows 

 on dead wood and forms fructifications up 1 cm. in diameter and 2 cm. 

 high. Out of a woody-brown, patelliform, basal sheath, resting on the 

 substrate, there arises a more or less columnar tissue. It consists of a 

 system of faveolate tubular chambers which run up from the base of the 

 fructification and are filled by the spore mass. The maturing of the 

 fructification apparently takes place basipetally. The asci arise by a 

 swelling of the binucleate members of the ascogenous hyphae. The 

 development of this peculiar family is still entirely unknown. 



Fig. 118. — Onygena equina. 1. Fructifications on a piece of horn. 2. Section through 

 the periphery of a young fructification. The terminal portions of the hyphae are forming 

 gemmae. 3. Branches of a hypha whose cells will become asci. 4. Median section of 

 an immature fructification. (1 X 2.3 ; after Ward, 1899.) 



Terfeziaceae. — This and the following family are only known in the 

 mature condition, and in the structure of their fructifications are next 

 to Penicilliopsis; they are hypogaeous, however; furthermore, no conidia 

 have been detected. 



Terfezia Leonis is found in the Mediterranean region under Cistus and 

 Helianthemum bushes with which they apparently form mycorrhizas. 

 The fructifications reach the size of a fist and are divided by sterile 

 veins into ascigerous portions which gradually run outward into a soft 

 peridium. They are edible and appear in the markets in the near East 

 as "Karnes" and in North Africa as "Terfez." The Romans and Greeks 

 also knew them. 



Probably the Terfeziaceae do not belong to this order. As rapidly 

 as the genera formerly placed in this family have been investigated 

 cytologically and ontogenetically, they have been transferred to the 

 Tuberales. So far Terfezia, the only remaining genus, has not been 

 investigated. 



