28 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



SO that usually the carpophore is short, and often reduced to 

 a mere point. Species such as that which grows on the 

 sclerotium of anemone roots are variable in the length of the 

 carpophore in proportion to the depth at which the sclerotium 

 is buried, or of such as grow on acorns or beech-mast lying 

 on the ground the carpophore is long enough to bring the 

 hymenium to the light. Pcziza aurantia or Peziza ladia, 

 growing on naked soil, are fully exposed, and hence are sessile. 

 Wherever, from its matrix or peculiar habit of growth, a species, 

 if sessile, could not expose its hymenium to the light under 

 ordinary circumstances, a carpophore is usually present. 

 Species which grow beneath the bark of branches, and break 

 through, have invariably a short carpophore to raise the disc 

 to the surface. 



Some special forms of carpophore are to be found in the 

 Pyrcnomycetes, where the fructification is capsular, and the 

 receptacle small and simple. In this case the carpophore is 

 not, except rarely, that of a single individual, but of a colony 

 or an agglomeration of individuals, each individual 

 being represented by the fruit receptacle, the 

 carpophore being a vegetative branch, developed 

 from the mycelium, specialised to carry the fruc- 

 tification, as the conidiophore of a mould is 

 specialised to carry a great number of conidia. For 

 example, the pupa of a moth becomes filled with 

 mycelium, which, in the first instance, developed 



^ ,„ , conidia under the form of Isaria farinosa (Fig. 13) ; 



Fig. 13. — Isa- "^ \ g / ' 



riafarinosa finally, a club-shapcd fleshy protuberance called 



on pupa of ^ stroma grows from the surface of the pupa in 



connection with and continuation of the internal 



mycelium. This fleshy stroma is at first only a sterile branch 



from the mycelium, like the stem of an Agaric, but ultimately 



the whole of its upper surface is covered with an indefinite 



number of minute receptacles, which are developed in a 



colony at the apex of a carpophore. The insects, M'hether 



larvae or pupae, on which these Fungi are developed are 



at the time buried in the soil, and the function of the 



carpophore is to carry the fructification into the light, so 



that sometimes it has to be prolonged several inches before 



