HIGHER FORMS OF FUNGI. 



ing processes in the lowest and simplest. In the Bead-mould 

 (Fig. 16), every cell of which the little stems are composed, 

 lives for itself alone ; and, like that of the Yeast-Plant, it may 

 either develop new cells from its extremities, by a process re- 

 sembling budding, or it may burst and set free a multitude of 

 contained germs, each of which may become a new cell. This 

 process very much resembles that which takes place in the Con- 

 fervas (. 40). But in the higher Fungi, as in the higher Algae, 

 we find a certain set of cells set apart for reproduction, and con- 

 tained in a distinct portion of the plant. This is the case, for 

 example, in the common Puff-ball, in which the reproductive 

 cells or spores are enveloped by a distinct membrane, which sets 

 them free, in the form of fine dust or smoke, by bursting when 

 they are mature. Nearly the same conformation exists in the 

 JEcidium (Fig. 17), and in other plants resembling it ; in these, 

 the membranous envelope, which encloses the spores, and dis- 

 charges them by an orifice in its side or summit, is termed the 

 peridium. A still higher 

 form is seen in the Agaric 

 or Mushroom tribe ; of 

 which a specimen is repre- 

 sented in Fig. 19. Here 

 we have a stem, 0, with 

 rootlets at the base, by 

 which the plant imbibes 

 its nutriment ; at its up- 

 per extremity, it bears the 

 pileus or cap, b ; and on 

 the under side of this are 

 seen the gills, c, which 

 radiate from the centre 

 towards the circumfer- 

 ence. These are composed 

 of a membrane in which 

 the reproductive cells are imbedded. At an early period of its 

 development, the pileus is folded down upon the stem, and is 

 inclosed in a membrane termed the voha or wrapper, the remains 



FIG. 19. AMANITA MUSCARIA. 

 a, the hollow stripes or stem ; 6, the pileus or 

 cap; c, the lamella or gills; d, the volva or 

 wrapper ; e, the velum or veil. 



