THELEPHOREAE. 93 



FAN. III. 



THELEPHOREAE. 



In the present grou p we meet with a very varied collection 

 of genera agreeing in having a well-defined hymenium, which 

 is either perfectly even, as in Corticium, or at most 

 slightly rugulose, as in Thelephora. The basidia are typically 

 clavate, tetrasporous, and aseptate, thus differing from the 

 Tremellineae, where the basidia are either transversely or 

 cruciately septate, or if aseptate, deeply bifurcate and 

 bisporous, and the whole fungus is of a gelatinous con- 

 sistency when moist. In some genera included in the Thele- 

 phoreae the substance is more or less gelatinous, but, as 

 stated above, the basidia are tetrasporous and aseptate. In 

 the Clavarieae the hymenium is also even, but the sporophore 

 is always erect, either club-shaped or more or less branched. 

 The Tremellineae and the Clavarieae may be considered as 

 terminal groups, in the sense of not having given origin to 

 any of the more highly organised divisions of the Hymeno- 

 mycetes, whereas in the Thelephoreae we have clearly indicated 

 all the various types of hymenophore which respectively 

 characterise the Hydneae, Polyporeae, and the Agaricineae. It 

 must be understood that the above remarks apply to the 

 Thelephoreae in its entirety and not only to the genera 

 included in the British Flora, which are thirteen in number, 

 whereas altogether the group contains nineteen genera. 

 Craterellus connects with the Agaricineae, being closely allied 

 to Cantharellus. Coniophora leads up to the Polyporeae, 

 through Merulius. Exobasidium forms a transition to the 

 Tremellineae. Beccaria, an exotic genus, connects through 

 Radulum with the Hydneae ; while Lachnocladium, also an 

 exotic genus, leads up to the Clavarieae through Clacaria. 

 Finally the Thelephoreae lose the leading feature of the 

 Basidiomycetes a continuous hymenium of compacted basidia 

 in the genus Heterobasidium, which connects with the 

 Hyphomycetes through the genus Chromatosporium. 



