NIDULARIACE1. 



[ 542 ] 



NITOPHYLLUM. 



basidia are intermingled with them in the 

 cavity of the conceptacle, not forming a 

 definitely marked layer. 



Fig. 523. 



Cyathus striatus. 



Basidia and spores from the fertile layer of i 

 conceptacle. 



Fig. 524. 



Magnified 250 diameters. 



Fig. 525. Fig. 526. 



Cyathus striatus. 



Fig. 524. Vertical section of a young receptacle. Magn. 



10 diams. 



Fig. 525. Another, more advanced. Magn. 10 diams. 

 Fig. 526. Another, still more advanced. Magn. 5 diamg. 



Synopsis of British Genera. 



* CARPOBOLI. Peridium containing only 

 one conceptacle. 



Atractobolus. Perid. simple, cup-shaped, 

 sessile, closed at first by an umbonate lid. 

 Conceptacle spindle-shaped, simple, indehis- 

 cent, projected when ripe from the bottom 

 of a peridium. 



Thelebolus. Perid. simple, sessile, round- 

 ish, urceolate-inflated ; mouth entire. Con- 

 ceptacle globose, papilliform, protruded 

 from the mouth. 



Sphfsrobohis. Perid. double, each layer 

 bursting in a stellate manner, the internal 

 membrane at length turned inside out, and 

 projecting the globular conceptacle elasti- 

 cally. 



Peridium with many 



* NIDULARINI. 

 conceptacles. 



Crucibulum. Perid. at first globose-capi- 

 tate, afterwards crucible-shaped, orifice ex- 

 posing numerous disk-shaped smooth concep- 

 tacles, each with a globular process beneath, 

 prolonged into a long, slender funiculus. 



Cyathus. Perid. at first obovate or fusi- 

 form, closed by a veil, then widely open 

 at the mouth, exposing ten to eighteen 

 disk-shaped thick conceptacles, umbilicate 

 beneath, and attached to the walls of the 

 peridium by a compound peduncle. 



Nidularia. Perid. sessile, subglobose, 

 finally open without evident veil ; concep- 

 tacles numerous, disk-shaped, nestling in 

 gelatinous mucus, without a funiculus. 



BIBL. Tulasne, Ann. Sc. Nat. 3 ser. i. 41 ; 

 Schmitz, Linntea, xvi. 141 ; Sachs, Bot. 

 Zeit. xiii. 823 ; Pringsheini, Jahrb. ii. 199 ; 

 Eidam, Colin. Beit. ii. 221. 



NIPHOB'OLUS, Kaulf. A genus of Po- 

 lypodiaceous Ferns, with elegantly articu- 

 lated veins and numerous naked sori at the 

 tips of free branchlets ; under surface with 

 woolly tomentum. = Potypodium pt. (Hook. 

 Syn. 349). 



' NIR'MUS, Nitzsch. A subgenus of Phi- 

 lopterm. Like Docophortts, but the trabe- 

 culae absent or rudimentary. On the black- 

 cock, grouse, and pigeon. 



NITELLA. See CHARACEJE. 



NITOPHYL'LUM, Greville. A genus 

 of Delesseriacese (Florideous Algse), con- 

 taining about half-a-dozen British species, 

 only two of which are commonly met with. 

 Their fronds are membranaceous, of reticu- 

 lated (parenchymatous) structure, mostly 

 rosy red, without ribs, or with irregular ribs 

 towards the base. The membranously ex- 

 panded frond of N. punctatum (PI. 4. tig. 6), 

 4 to 12" high, is either regularly dichoto- 

 mously divided or parted into two or three 

 principal lobes, which have a border of 

 dichotomous wedge-shaped lobes. N. lace- 

 rum has the frond 2 to 10" high, much 

 dichotomously divided and marked with 

 flexuous veins, the segments mostly linear, 

 waved or fringed at the margins. Fructifi- 

 cation consisting of spores, tetraspores, and 

 antheridia. 1. Spore. s sessile on the fronds, 

 arising from tufted filaments contained in 

 coccidia ; 2. tetraspores, forming distinct 

 scattered spots on the frond ; 3. antheridia, 

 minute cells standing perpendicularly on the 

 surface of the frond, collected into patches, 

 only distinguishable by the help of the 

 microscope. 



