36 FUNGI. 



One great point of distinction between these and the preceding 

 is the absence of any true perithecium, the spores being pro- 

 duced in a kind of spurious receptacle, or from a sort of stroma. 

 The spores are, as a rule, larger arid much more attractive than 

 in Sph&ronemei) and, in some instances, are either very fine, or 

 very curious. Under this head we may mention the multi- 

 septate spores of Conjneum; the tri-radiate spores of Astero- 

 sporium ; the curious crested spores of 

 Pestalozzia; the doubly crested spores of 

 Dilophospora ; and the scarcely less sin- 

 gular gelatinous coated spores of Ckeiro- 

 spora. In all cases the fructification is 

 abundant, and the spores frequently ooze 

 out in tendrils, or form a black mass 

 above the spurious receptacle from which 

 they issue.* 



Fio. 15. Agttrmporiwn. Hoff- ToiiuLACEi. In this order there seems 

 at first to be a considerable resemblance 



to the Dematiei, except that the threads are almost obsolete, and 

 the plant is reduced to chains of spores, without trace of perithe- 

 cium, investing cuticle, or definite stroma. Sometimes the spores 

 are simple, in other cases septate, and in Sporochisma are at first 

 produced in an investing cell. In most cases simple threads 

 at length become septate, and are ultimately differentiated into 

 spores, which separate ;,t the joints when fully mature. 



G&OMACEL Of far greater interest are the Coniomycetous 

 parasites on living plants. The present order includes those in 

 which the spore t is reduced to a single cell ; and here we may 

 observe that, although many of them are now proved to be 

 imperfect in themselves, and only forms or conditions of other 

 fungals, we shall write of them here without regard to their 

 duality. These originate, for the most part, within the tissues 

 of living plants, and are developed outwards in pustules, which 

 burst through the cuticle. The mycelium penetrates the inter- 



* Berkeley, M. J., "Introduction, Crypt. Bot." p. 329. 

 j- In the Cceomacei and Puccinicei the term "pseudospore ' would be much 

 more accurate. 



