CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS. 249 



it is convenient to give these corpuscules a name which, 

 if I may thus speak, will be entirely neutral ; those of 

 Spores or Gongyles have been proposed, as not affirm- 

 ing any thing beyond what appears known. 



Section IX. 



Of Fungi. 



The immense family of Fungi presents forms so varied, 

 that I should greatly exceed the limits of this work if I 

 were to attempt to describe them. I shall confine my- 

 self to stating that all Fungi, taking this term in the 

 more extended sense that botanists have assigned to it, 

 present, at their maturity, globular coloured bodies, 

 which arc regarded as reproductive corpuscules, or in 

 other terms, spores or gongyles ; they are placed very 

 differently in the various tribes : — sometimes inclosed in 

 the body itself of the Fungus, as in the Truffle, &c. ; 

 sometimes situated on the surface, as in C Lav aria ; ;\t 

 other times between the lamellae, as in Agaricus, Bole- 

 tus, &c. &c. These are considered the reproductive 

 bodies, although they have never been seen to germinate. 

 We observe them in two states: — sometimes, as in Aga- 

 ricus, they appear in the form of an impalpable powder, 

 which separates at maturity from the membrane which 

 produces it, and which is called the Hymenium; in this 

 case they appear to be naked spores : sometimes, as in 

 Sphceria, we see them contained in a membranous en- 

 velope, which is a Sporangium, most frequently in the 

 form of a globe or oblong spindle. In both cases, the 

 spores or sporangia may be dry in cavities or upon sur- 

 faces which are not mucous ; sometimes, as it were, 



