3 io TEXT-BOOK OF FUNGI 



The entire plant is enclosed in a thin, tough, gelatinous 

 envelope. Continuity of protoplasm between the com- 

 ponent cells of the entire structure is very marked. 



The number of spores in an ascus is either four or 

 eight, hyaline, fusiform or acicular, and with rare excep- 

 tions are divided into two cells by a transverse septum. A 

 gelatinous envelope thickened at the base surrounds each 

 spore ; this envelope enables the spore to adhere to its host. 

 When four spores are present in an ascus they are arranged 

 in pairs, and in this manner escape from the perithecium, 

 the asci being previously dissolved. The spores become 

 attached to the host in pairs corresponding to the pairs 

 formed in the ascus, and in dioecious species one spore 

 produces a male and the other a female plant. 



The spores germinate on the host, becoming attached 

 by a blackened, modified base which in some species forms 

 a haustorium. New individuals are formed directly by 

 successive cell-division, without forming hyphae. 



The present family, though resembling Ascomycetes in 

 producing the spores in a definite number in asci, is not 

 allied in a marked manner to any of the known families 

 belonging to this group. Morphologically, it bears a close 

 resemblance to the Florideae in the structure of the sexual 

 organs, continuity of protoplasm, etc. 



The male sexual organs furnish the most important 

 characters on which the classification of the Laboulbe- 

 niceae is based. The two primary groups depend on the 

 exogenous or endogenous origin of the antherozoids or 

 male fertilising bodies. 



Exogenous antherozoids are produced as lateral branch- 

 lets, the whole or portions of which become separated 

 into long, slender rods, having a definite cell - wall. 



