196 CURREY, ON REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF FUNGI. 



I have spoken of Corda's genus Hyper omyxa as being iden- 

 tical with Myriocephalum. The only distinction is, that Corda 

 represents each thread and each fascicle of spores as enveloped 

 in a separate mucous sheath. There can be no doubt, I 

 think, that these mucous sheaths form, by their dissolution, 

 the gelatinous mass in which all the flocci and capitula of 

 spores are enveloped. In the ' Summa Vegetabilium Scandi- 

 navise/ the genus Hyperomyxa immediately precedes Myrioce- 

 phalum, and upon the former Fries makes the remark, " Forte 

 non satis diversum a sequente ; in quo vagina (1. ascus) jam 

 primitus resorbtus ut sporae nuda? sint." " Nudae" here must 

 mean naked, so far as regards any special protective organ, for 

 of the existence of the general mucous envelope there can be 

 no doubt. 



The dampness of the atmosphere at the period of the above 

 observations was of course favourable to germination, and I 

 observed many germ-filaments amongst the mass of the 

 Myriocephalum spores. A remarkable feature in these germ- 

 filaments was their great diameter as compared with that of 

 the individual joints of the torulose capitula. This is so 

 striking as almost to induce the belief that each capitulum 

 germinates as a whole. In fig. 7, I have drawn one of these 

 germ-filaments under a power of 350 diameters, and an in- 

 spection of that figure will show its great width. The 

 filament is divided by a multitude of transverse septa, and 

 the contents of each cell are granular with two or three 

 nuclei. The colour of this particular one was a deep sea- 

 green, much darker than is usually the case with the germ- 

 filaments of Fungi, but others occurred which were almost 

 colourless. 



In the ' Botanische Zeitung ' for the 25th of February, 1853, 

 Dr. Riess describes a new species of Prosthemium, which he 

 calls Prosthemium stellare, and which bears a tuft of spores 

 analogous to Myriocephalum. He suggests that the entire 

 fascicle may, perhaps, be considered to be a single highly-de- 

 veloped spore. If the same supposition could be made in the 

 case of the Myriocephalum, it would at once explain the appa- 

 rently unprecedented size of the germ-filament ; but whether 

 or not such a supposition be admissible I am not prepared 

 to give an opinion. 



It remains to say a few words with respect to the name by 

 which the plant here discussed should henceforth be distin- 

 guished. I think there can be no doubt that it should be 

 retained in the genus Stilbospora. Although it has become 

 common lately to speak of the Stilbospoiw as only stylosporous 

 states of SphairicB, it is obvious that the genus cannot be 



