The North American Cup-Fungi 



or vegetative and the fruiting or reproductive. The vegetative 

 stage consists usually of a mass of loose h\-phae which penetrate 

 often for a great distance into the substratum in search of food 

 which must be obtained in the organic form since these lowly- 

 plants have no chlorophyll. Occasionally as in the genus Wynnea 

 a sclerotium is formed. From the mycelium or sclerotium the 

 fruiting bod)' is produced usually after a longer or shorter period 

 of vegetative growth, the length of the period varying with the 



Fig. 1. Stalked aputhccia of Paxina sulcata in various stages of growth. 



Photograph by W. R. Fisher. 



species. We often speak of the fungi as sporadic because thc\' 

 seem to appear at irregular intervals without rule or reason. 

 The vegetative stage, however, is often persistent }-ear after 

 year in the same place where the substratum is constant, onl\- 

 the fruiting bodies being sporadic and even these occur with 

 much more regularit\' than is usually supposed. 



The fruiting stage of the cup-fungus is known as the asco- 

 phore, ascocarp, or ascoma and usually consists of a sessile or 

 stalked disc or cup (Fig. 1) or in the Elvclaceae* of a distinct 



* \'arious spellings have been employed for the generic name on which 

 this famih' is based as follows: Elvela, Elvella, Helvela, and Helvella. The 



