CHAPTER XXVIII 

 GASTEROMYCETES 



This traditional group of fungi, originally contrasted with the Hymeno- 

 mycetes, includes an assemblage of families of angiocarpous Autobasidio- 

 mycetes which undoubtedly belong to several developmental series. Lack 

 of ontogenetic investigation prevents a satisfactory regrouping up to 

 the present although numerous attempts have been made. These 

 attempts have been based upon too few data to justify themselves. The 

 segregation which has survived the longest was based upon the arrange- 

 ment of basidia, but, like similar segregation of the Hypochnaceae for a 

 few species of Hypochnus and Corticium, this segregation of the Plecto- 

 basidiales (Fischer, 1900) is untenable. It consisted in removing the 

 Podaxaceae, the Sclerodermataceae, the Calostomataceae, Tulostomata- 

 ceae and the Sphaerobolaceae from the Lycoperdaceae and Nidulariaceae 

 in their broader limits and erecting them into a single polyphyletic 

 order, on the basis of single character. 



In the Gasteromycetes, the hymenia arise on irregular plates of tissue 

 anastomosing to form a chambered, fertile tissue called the gleba, which 

 is usually surrounded by a cover of sterile tissue called the peridium. 

 The basidia are mostly four, occasionally two to three or six to eight 

 spored and, except in Tulostoma, develop chiastobasidially as far as known. 

 In all forms previously studied, as Lycoperdon excipuliforme, Geaster 

 fimbriatus, Nidularia farcta (N. globosa) (Maire, 1902), N. pisiformis 

 (Fries, 1911), Cyathus striatus (C. hirsutus) (Maire, 1902), Secotium 

 novae-zealandiae (Cunningham, 1925) and Lycoperdon depressum (Cun- 

 ningham, 1927) the nucleus divides soon after it enters the spores, 

 so that the mature spores and all the resulting mycelium is 

 binucleate. In Nidularia, especially in impure or poorly nourished 

 cultures, the hyphae tend to break up into oidia. Apparently oidia 

 are produced in the outer layer of the peridium of Arcangeliella caudata 

 (Zeller and C. W. Dodge, 1919), although no attempt was made to 

 germinate them. In Leucophlebs, which probably represents the conidial 

 stage of Leucogaster, clusters of conidia on rather elaborate conidiophores 

 fill the cavities of the fructification before the formation of the basidia. 



The primitive members of the group are mostly hypogaeous, although 

 there is a strong tendency to elevate the gleba above the earth to secure 

 the dissemination of their spores by wind or insects. With the complete 

 angiocarpous development of the hymenium, the original mechanism of 



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