398 



COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF FUNGI 



within pycnia. In the Basidiomycetes, they do not reach the stage of 

 development they do in the Ascomycetes; for example, the type of 

 conidiophores of the Plectascales are unknown in the Basidiomycetes. 



Fig. 265. — Corticium bombycinum. 1. Group of basidia. 2. Mature basidiospore. 

 3 to 6. Germination of basidiospores. 7 to 11. Development of basidia. 12 to 14. 

 Development of basidiospores. (1 to 5, 7 to 14 X 1,000; 6 X 700; after Kniep, 1913.) 



In the Basidiomycetes, conidia play an altogether subordinate role. 

 Their existence can, for the most part, be determined only in artificial 

 culture; they appear regularly only in the lower orders and disappear 

 entirely in the higher ones. The oidia arise, as in the Ascomycetes, in 



