iv] HELVELLALES 127 



"out of these cavities an impalpable powder when it was touched, exactly 

 as is observed in the Peziza vesiculosa" 



In all species the stromata seem to grow from a distinct disc (fig. 87), 

 formed from the bark or the bark and wood of the host, and traversed in 

 all directions by the mycelium, which doubtless gives rise to a fresh crop 

 each season. The asci are rather short and cylindrical and contain eight 

 ovoid spores. 



In C. Dai"winii Berkeley observed that the lower part of the stroma was 

 granulated as if beset with a small, black, parasitic Sphaeria; Fischer inter- 

 preted these structures as spermogonia or pycnidia, and was able to observe 

 them on different parts of the stroma of C. Hookeri-*x\& C. Harioti. He also 

 noted, below the developing apothecia of C. Darwinii, certain stout, coiled, 

 branching hyphae, which were at this stage almost without contents. Their 

 appearance suggests that they are ascogenous hyphae, but Fischer made the 

 alternative suggestion that they might be archicarps. In view of the presence 

 of putative spermatia he made some search for trichogynes reaching to the 

 surface of the stroma,but could find none, nor any evidence of a sexual process. 



The Cyttariaceae have been compared to those members of the Cenan- 

 giaceae in which the apothecia arise from a common stroma, and in which 

 pycnidia or spermogonia are also present. 



In many directions they require further investigation. 



CYTTARIACEAE: BIBLIOGRAPHY 



1842 BERKELEY, M. J. On an edible Fungus from Tierra del Fuego and an allied Chilian 

 Species. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. xix, p. 37. 



1847 BERKELEY, M. J. Fungi. Hooker's Flora Antarctica, ii, p. 453. 



1848 BERKELEY, M. J. Decades of Fungi. Lond. Journ. Bot. 2nd series, vii, p. 576. 



1885 BUCHANAN, J. On Cyttaria Pnrdiei. Trans. New Zealand Inst. xviii, p. 317. 



1886 FISCHER, E. Zur Kenntniss der Pilzgattung Cyttaria. Bot. Zeit. xlvi, p. 812. 



HELVELLALES 



The members of the Helvellales are saprophytes, growing chiefly on the 

 ground, sometimes on decayed wood and branches. Most are large, fleshy 

 and stipitate. The hymenium is spread over the upper surface, and, in the 

 few forms studied, is covered at first by a veil or membrane through which 

 the paraphyses break, much as in the Pezizas, and which may be homologized 

 with their peridium. There are three families : 



Ascophore flattened, not stalked RHIZINACEAE. 



Ascophore stalked 



fertile region of head distinct from stalk, ascus opening 



by a lid HELVELLACEAE. 



fertile region not always distinct from stalk, ascus opening 

 by a plug GEOGLOSSACEAE. 



