508 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



magnified at Fig. 1333, produce four small cells at then- free sum- 

 mit, apparently by gemmation and constriction : these are the spores. 

 It is maintained that the larger intermingled cells, (of which .one is 

 shown at Fig. 1332, «,) filled with an attenuated form of matter, are 

 the analogues of antheridia. The lowest Fungi produce from their 

 mycelium only simple or branching series of cells (Fig. 92-94). 

 The mycelium itself either ramifies through decaying organized 

 matter, as the Moulds, &c. ; or else — like the Blight and Rust in 

 grain, and the Mascardine so destructive to silkworms, and others 



so destructive to the Grape, the Potato, &c. — it attacks and spreads 

 throughout living tissues, often producing great havoc before its 

 fructification is revealed at the surface. Sometimes the last cells of 

 the stalks swell into a vesicle, in which the minute sporules are 

 formed ; as in Fig. 92. Sometimes the branching stalks bear single 

 sporules, like a bunch of grapes (Fig. 94), or long series of cells, or 



FIG. 1328. Spbasria rosella. 1329. Asci from its interior, containing sporules, highly mag- 

 nified. 1330 Agaricus campestris, the Kdible mushroom, in its various stages. 1331. Section 

 through the pileus, to display the gills. 1332. A small piece of a slice through the thick- 

 ness of one of the gills, magnified ; showing the spores borne on the summit of sail nt cells 

 of both surfaces. 1333 Oue of the sporule-bearing cells, with tome subjacent tissue, mora 

 magnified 



