484 



COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF FUNGI 



the sterigmata, collect in the cavity of the glebal chamber, fill it and are 

 further nourished by vegetative hyphae which grow out of the subhy- 

 menium, surround the spore, fuse with it and nourish it as in Scleroderma 

 (G. W. Martin, 1927). 



The ground tissue outside of the gleba chambers gelatinizes; in 

 Crucibulum and Cyathus, however, on the side of each chamber next the 

 cup wall, a funiculus attaches the chamber to the peridium. In Cyathus 

 especially, it is a very complicated structure; in C. striatus, it consists 



Fig. 308. — Crucibulum vulgare. Portion of fructification somewhat older than that shown 



in Fig. 307, B. {After Sachs, 1855.) 



of a cylindrical basal portion, a thin middle section, and an upper por- 

 tion. This is a hollow pocket which is penetrated by a funiculus fastened 

 above to the glebal chamber and below coiled into a knot. In damp 

 weather the funiculus may become 12 cm. long. Perhaps it aids dis- 

 semination by fastening the chambers to animals. 



At maturity, the fructification degenerates at the top which, in 

 Cyathus and Crucibulum, is a sharply denned circular cap (epiphragm). 

 The gelatinous ground tissue liquefies and hard round gleba chambers lie, 



