CENSUS OF FUNGI 321 



not more than three-fourths, but I'ecently the dih'erence has 

 diminished. 



Closely allied to the above are the Discomycetcs, with the 

 sporidia also enclosed in asci, but with the fertile disc exposed. 

 The species enumerated are about 3800, with which there are 

 no previous lists for comparison, and no estimate, save that of 

 twenty years ago, when we estimated the total number at some- 

 thing like 2000 species. The Systema of Fries only contains 

 about 430 species for 1822 ; whilst for British Discomycetes 

 alone, Phillips, in 1887, records 607 species. A large 

 majority of the species are fleshy, and hence almost confined to 

 temperate regions, but it is only during recent years that they 

 have been studied seriously and effectively. Until about 

 twenty-five years ago they were absolutely neglected, and we 

 are indebted chiefly to Fuckel, Nylander, and Karsten for indi- 

 cating the lines upon which future studies should be pursued. 



The remaining groups are comparatively small, and none 

 are of more importance than the Gastromycetes, which are of 

 considerable size, so as not to be easily overlooked, and dis- 

 tributed over a wide geographical range ; yet the number of 

 species has hardly increased in proportion to those in other 

 groups. The present total number of species, of all kinds, 

 does not exceed 720, and of these no less than 173 are 

 represented in Australia, which seems to be the happy land 

 for the Gastromycetes, not half that number being found in 

 Britain. 



The Hypodermei include the two smaller groups which are 

 better known as the Uredinei and the Ustilaginei, to both of 

 which large additions have been made in recent years, not so 

 manifest in a catalogue on account of the union of the members 

 of several so-called genera under one designation. Some of 

 the present species are by no means stable, which go to make 

 up the total of 1750, The Ustilaginei only number about 

 320 of these, leaving 1430 species for the Uredinei. The 

 total number of British species, according to the latest mono- 

 graph, was 261. The previous catalogue for 1878 included 

 293 species, but this is accounted for by the new arrangement 

 placing the Aecidium, Uredo, and Teleutospores under one 

 generic denomination. This makes it difficult to compare 



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