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by Messrs. Berkeley and Broome, but they do not mention it in Pat. atrata. I 
have observed it also in Patellaria oleosa, in Patellaria indigotica, and in a very 
curious little Putellaria sent me from Italy under the name of Patellaria 
hyalosperma. It may be seen also in Tympanis picastra and Tympanis Ravenelii. 
In Dermatea and Cenangium the same phenomenon probably cccurs, but I have 
not had the leisure to pursue the investigation. 
These remarks must be accepted as suggestive rather than exhaustive, but 
I think that I have alluded to the chief typical forms of paraphyses, and to these 
it appears to me that all the variations may be referred. 
The FUNCTIONS of paraphyses appear to be mainly the protection of the 
fructiferous organs. Surrounding the asci they seem to stand in the same relation- 
ship to them as in flowering plants the corolla bears to the essential organs. They 
constitute in the earlier stages of growth the entire hymenium, aud in this stage 
form a disc with their upper extremities, whilst their parallel sides, immersed 
in a gelatinous fluid, afford ready channels for the growth and development 
upwards of the sporidiferous asci. It can readily be imagined that such a struc- 
ture affords very great protection for the asci during growth. It can hardly be 
supposed that delicate asci could successively be produced on an entirely exposed 
surface without great risk of destruction, but by means of this arrangement they 
thrust themselves upwards through protecting channels, lined everywhere with a 
lubricative fluid, so that their movements are facilitated as well as protected. It 
is an undoubted fact that all the asci of an hymenium are not developed at once, 
but proceed for some time in a regular succession from the subhymenial tissue. 
At first the asci are slender, gradually increasing in volume as they rise, but until 
they have attained their full height their contents are plastic and granular, 
Having approached their adult stature, the differentiation of the protoplasm takes 
place ; gradually the outline of the sporidia is indicated, commencing at the 
summit of the ascus and progressing downwards, and finally the sporidia are 
formed. It is well to bear in mind that the terminal sporidia are the first to be 
matured, and this is conspicuously evident when the sporidia are ultimately 
coloured ; under favourable circumstances a delicate gradation in colour will be 
observable downwards through the whole series. It has already been remarked 
that it is of rare occurrence that the asci should reach by their apices the surface 
of the disc. As arule the paraphyses being the longest extend above and still 
protect the asci. The swollen, or clavate tips, compensate to some extent for the 
space occupied below by the asci, and the surface is still maintained impervious. 
In cases where the tips of the paraphyses are not clavate, but filiform, they are 
not unusually branched in their upper portion, which only adds to their volume, 
and in some cases the extremities are bent, curved, circinate, or interwoven, so 
that still the whole disk is covered, and no openings left above the apices of the 
rising asci. Undoubtedly the apices of the asci are always most free from pressure 
or restraint, which is essential to the free discharge of the mature sporidia, It 
may sometimes be seen on the field of the microscope that as a mature sporidium 
is expelled from the apex of its ascus the clavate paraphyses which surround it 
