THE CLASSIFICATION OF FUNGI 25 



ASCOMYCETES 



The one important feature in this group is that the spores are 

 produced within a special cell called an ascus (Fig. 10, Plate A). 

 This again is a microscopic character, which can be readily seen 

 if a section through one of the cup-shaped species of Peziza is ex- 

 amined under a sufficiently high power of the microscope. The 

 members generally constituting this group are not so familiar to 

 most people as are those of the Basidiomycetes, one reason being 

 that many thousands of species come under the category of micro- 

 scopic species, the entire fungus not being larger than the head of a 

 small pin. As a negative character it may be stated that none of the 

 prominent structural features met with in the Basidiomycetes are 

 repeated in the Ascomycetes. In the latter group the forms best 

 known to people generahy belong, broadly speaking, to the genus 

 Peziza, cup- or saucer-shaped fungi, either sessile, that is stalkless, 

 or with a more or less elongated stem, and then resembling a 

 champagne glass. Large crimson and bright yellow species of 

 Peziza are not uncommon on the ground in woods, etc. Another 

 section includes the Morels and allied forms, which appear in the 

 springtime. Finally, the underground true truffles are included 

 in the Ascomycetes. 



The remaining primary groups, Phycomycetes and Deutero- 

 mycetes, lie entirely outside our province. 



The next point is to consider the primary divisions of the primary 

 groups. The following two belong to the Basidiomycetes. 



Hymenomycetes 



The principal feature of this group is that the h3'menium is fully 

 exposed from the first, or at all events before the spores are mature. 

 In the numerous species growing as flat expansions on bark and 

 wood, Coriiciiim, etc., the hymenium covers the entire upper surface, 

 and is fully exposed or unprotected from the moment of its first 

 formation. The same is true of the various club-shaped or much 

 branched fungi belonging to the Clavariaceae, and also the bracket- 

 shaped, woody forms, and tube-bearing fungi in general. In the 

 toadstools or agarics, as the gill-bearing fungi are collectively called, 

 in the great majority of species the gills bearing the hymenium are 

 fully exposed from the earliest stage of development. In certain of 

 the higher agarics and other groups a uni\^ersal veil or a secondary 

 veil is present, but these disappear and expose the hymenium at an 

 early stage. 



Gasteromycetes 



This, the second primary group of the Basidiomycetes, is dia- 

 metrically opposed in its leading character to that of the Hymeno- 

 mycetes, inasmuch as in the present group the hymenium is 

 covered and protected until the spores are quite mature. To this 



