CLASSIFICATION. 73 



Distinct hymenium none. Pseudospores either solitary or con- 

 catenate, produced on the tips of generally short threads, which 

 are either naked or contained in a perithecium, rarely compacted 

 into a gelatinous mass, at length producing minute spores = CONIO- 



MYCETES. 



The last family of the sporifera is Hyphomycetes, in which the 

 threads are conspicuously developed. These are what are more 

 commonly called "moulds," including some of the most elegant 

 and delicate of microscopic forms. It is true of many of these, 

 as well as of the Coniomycetes, that they are only conidial forms 

 of higher fungi ; but there will remain a very large number of 

 species which, as far as present knowledge extends, must be ac- 

 cepted as autonomous. In this family, we may again recognize 

 three subdivisions, in one of which the threads are more or less 

 compacted into a common stem, in another the threads are free, 

 and in the third the threads can scarcely be distinguished from 

 the mycelium. It is this latter group which unites the Hypho- 

 mycetes with the Coniomycetes, the affinities being increased by the 

 great profusion with which the spores are developed. The first 

 group, in which the fertile threads are united so as to form a 

 compound stem, consists of two small orders, the Isariacei and the 

 Slilbacei, in the former of which the spores are dry, and in the 

 latter somewhat gelatinous. Many of the species closely imitate 

 forms met with in the Hymenomycetes, such as Clavaria ; and, 

 in the genus Isaria, it is almost beyond doubt that the species 

 found on dead insects, moths, spiders, flies, ants, &c., are merely 

 the conidiophores of species of Torrulia.* 



The second group is by far the largest, most typical, and 

 attractive in this family. It contains the black moulds and 

 white moulds, technically known as the Dematiei and the 

 Mucedines. In the first, the threads are more or less corticated, 

 that is, the stem has a distinct investing membrane, which peels 

 off like a bark ; and the threads, often also the spores, are dark- 

 coloured, as if charred or scorched. In many cases, the spores 

 are highly developed, large, multiseptate, and nucleate, and sel- 



* Tulasne, L. E. and C., "Selecta Fungorum Carpologia," vol. iii. pp. 4-19. 



