CONIFERS. 



[ 164 ] 



CONIOMYCETES. 



structures. This is beautifully seen in some 

 silicified wood which has been brought from 

 Australia by Dr. Hooker, parts of which are 

 so friable, that microscopic sections may be 

 obtained by splitting it with a knife (PL 19. 

 fig. 33). With solid silicified wood, sections 

 made by the lapidary are required. We have 

 also readily detected the structure in COAL by 

 the process we have given under that head. 



The only case of a structure approaching 

 near enough to that of the Coniferous wood 

 to lead to misconception, appears to be that 

 of the wood of certain Magnoliaceae, such as 

 Drimys,Sph(Erostema, and Tasmannia, where 

 there is likewise absence of ducts and ves- 

 sels, while the prosenchymatous cells have 

 bordered pits: but the wood differs consider 

 ably in the character of the medullary rays, 

 and in the number and arrangement of the 

 pits on the walls of the cells. (See WIN- 

 TERED ) 



The wood of many of the Conifers is tra- 

 versed by turpentine-canals, which are large 

 intercellular passages bounded by thin-walled 

 cells ; in others these occur only in the bark, 

 while in Taxus and Torrega both are devoid 

 of them; where none occur in the wood, 

 there are generally isolated rows of cells 

 filled with secretions, but not even these 

 occur in the wood of Abies pectinata. 



The following analysis of the structure of 

 the wood of some of the most important, is 

 modified slightty from Hartig : 



A. Cells of the pith with thin walls. 



a. Liber-cells in cross-section broad"} 

 and mostly short, isolated, in scat- I . 

 tered groups, or in bands of several f AI 

 rows, or wanting .............. J 



*Wood with turpentine-canals. 

 fMedullary rays with varying pits . . Pinu-s. 

 ffMedullary rays with uniform pits. 

 J Cords of secretion- cells at the 

 outer limit of the annual rings 



Outer wood-cells of the annual ) n , 

 rings smooth within ........ f Learus - 



Outer wood-cells of the annual T 



rings with an obscure spiral > Larix. 

 fibre ...................... J 



it Wood without isolated rows of ) D . 

 secretion-cells .............. }Picen. 



**Wood without turpentine-canals. 

 fMedullary rays with distant pits. 



J Wood-cells with distant pits, 1 or\ ,,. 

 2 rows in pairs .............. / AOte *' 



JJWood-cells with crowded pits, 

 1 5 rows, in spiral arrange- 



* 



Cunninghamia. 



tfMedullary rays with crowded pits Dammara. 



b. Liber-cells with square or oblong~\ 

 cross-section, in concentric rows, I TAXINEJE and 

 alternating with parenchymatous \ PODOCARPE^. 

 cells .......................... J 



*Pith with thick-coated liber-cells .... Sallsburia. 

 **Pith without thick-coated liber-cells. 



t Wood-cells with openly - coiled \ , 

 spiral fibre ........ ..... ....... / Taxus. 



tfWood-cells smooth within. 



fLiber-layers with thick-coated \ D , 



cells .. ...................... } Podocarpus. 



JJ Liber - layers without thick- \ 



coated cells .............. / Dacrydium. 



B. Cells of the pith with thick walls, \ 

 liber-cells square / 



*Liber-cells without pit-canals. 



fPith with a roundish cross-section, 1 , 



bark without turpentine-canals . . / Tax odmm. 

 ft Pith with quadrangular cross-sec- 1 , 



tion, bark with turpentine-canals / Tflu J a - 

 **Liber-cells with pit-canals. 

 fWood-cells smooth inside. 

 JPith 3-angled ........... Juninerus 



ttPith 2- or 4-angled ............ Cup?e'. 



BIBL. Goppert, De Coniferarum Struc- 

 tura, Vratisl. 1841; Anat. Magnoliac. Lin- 

 nsea, xvi. p. 135, Ann. des Sc. nat. 2 ser. 

 xviii.; Hartig, EotanischeZeitung, vi. p. 123 

 1848; Schacht, Die Pjlanzenzelle, Berlin, 

 1852, p. 435. 



CONIOCARPON, B.C. (Spiloma, Hook. 

 Br. F/.). A genus of Graphideae (Gymno- 

 carpous Lichens) closely related to Arthonia, 

 but distinguished by the upper surface of the 

 apothecia breaking up into powder. 



BIBL. Leighton, Ann. Nat. Hist. 2 ser 

 xiii. 443. pi. 8. 



CONIOMYCETES. An order of Fungi 

 composed of microscopic forms, for the most 

 part parasitical upon plants, growing beneath 

 the epidermis, or overgrowing decaying ve- 

 getables, and then more or less imbedded in 

 the matrix. The fructification consists of 

 groups of sessile or stalked spores (conidia, 

 Fries, and stylospores, Tulasne) arising from 

 the filamentous mycelium. In the simplest 

 forms the mycelium consists of short fila- 

 ments, which are more or less completely 

 converted into spores ; or it forms an irre- 

 gular flocculent patch in decaying matter or 

 under the epidermis of plants, in which the 

 spores are found intermingled, breaking out 

 on the surface of the epidermis in the para- 

 sites; but in the more complete forms the 

 mycelium becomes organized into firm struc- 

 tures of definite form (conceptacles) which 

 are hollow, the walls being lined with short 

 filaments terminatirg in spores. These 

 conceptacles are either produced on the 



