General Features 17 



logical " ear-marks " which run true to form so that it is not 

 actually necessary to see the operculum in order to know, with 

 reasonable certainty, that a cup-fungiis belongs to the operculate 

 group. These characters are as follows: 



The spores of the Operculates are comparatively large, never 

 septate, often warted or sculptured, and ranging from globose 

 to broad-ellipsoid, more rarely fusiform but never very slender 

 or filiform. The plants of this section usually occur on soil, 

 dung, well-rotted wood and only rarely on hard woody stems. 



The spores of the Inoperculates on the other hand are com- 

 paratively small, usually smooth, narrow and often very long 

 and slender or filiform and often septate or showing a strong 

 tendency to become so. The plants of this group are seldom 

 terrestrial (except the Geoglossaceae) but usually occur on hard 

 stems, wood or leaves. While the spores of this group are in a 

 very few cases globose, they are, in such forms, very much 

 smaller than the globose spores of the Operculates. There is 

 also a decided difference in the type of hairs clothing the outside 

 of the apothecia, when such are present. 



Some collectors object to using this character as a basis of 

 division because of the erroneous idea that it is a difficult one 

 to observe. This is not the case, but even if it were, it is scarcely 

 a valid excuse for failing to recognize so fundamental a difference. 



1 1 . Eccentricity of the Ascostome 



As mentioned above, the operculum is usually situated at 

 right angles to the long axis of the ascus while in some species 

 it is oblique. In the course of this work the writer has noted this 

 latter character in a number of species of tropical Discomycetes, 

 especially those belonging to the genera Phillipsia, Cookeina 

 and Wynnea. It has also been observed in Plectania hiemalis, 

 a temperate form but one which shows a general relationship 

 with the tropical forms just mentioned. It may occur in many 

 others but these are the forms in which it has been especially 

 noted. Perhaps too little importance has been attached to this 

 character but, up to the present time, it has merely been accepted 

 by the writer as one of the many morphological characters of 

 certain species without attempting to explain the reasons for its 

 existence. 



In connection with his excellent researches on fungi Dr. 

 Duller has offered a very interesting theory in an attempt to 



