TREMELLINEAE. 53 



FAM. I. 



TREMELLINEAE. Fries. 



Entire fungus homogeneous, gelatinous, collapsing when 

 dry, regaining its form when moistened, traversed internally 

 by branched hyphae which terminate in basidia at the 

 periphery ; basidia variable in form, elongate or fusoid, trans- 

 versely septate or continuous, undivided or with the apex 

 forked, or subglobose and cruciately divided and bearing 

 two or four sterigmata ; spores hyaline, from globose to 

 sausage-shaped and curved, continuous or septate, often 

 becoming variously septate on germination and producing 

 sporidiola of various forms. 



Tremellineae, Fries, Syst. Myc. I., p. 2; Sacc. Syll. vi. 

 p. 760. 



The Tremellineae are characterised by their more or less 

 gelatinous consistency. In Tremella, the central genus, the 

 substance is in some species so tender as to lose its form and 

 almost deliquesce on being handled, whereas in Auricularia 

 the texture is coriaceous and retains its form. This pecu- 

 liarity is due to the fact that the external portion of the 

 Avails of the intricately interwoven hyphae are diffluent, 

 forming a quaking jelly when moist, hard and horny when 

 dry, becoming soft again when moistened. In the lower 

 forms, as Tremella, Dacryomyces, &c., the hymenium covers 

 every portion of the exposed surface, whereas in the higher 

 types, as Auricularia, Guepinia, &c., the hymenium is confined 

 to one surface of the sporophore, and in most instances this 

 surface has a more or less marked tendency to point down- 

 wards or away from the light. 



Being at the base or starting-point of the Basidiomycetes, 

 the basidia, which constitute the principal feature of the 

 group, are what may be termed in an unstable condition, 

 not having in any member of the present family assumed 

 the structure so constant within narrow limits and charac- 

 teristic of the following families. In Auricularia the basidia 

 are very primitive and transversely septate, each joint or cell 

 of the basidium producing near or at its apex a single 



