CLASSIFICATION. 65 



are produced in cells or cysts. These cysts are respectively 

 known as sporangia, and asci or ihecce. The true meaning and 

 value of these divisions will be better comprehended when we 

 have detailed the characters of the families composing these two 

 divisions. 



First, then, the section SPORIFERA contains four families, in two 

 of which a hymenium is present, and in two there is no proper 

 hymenium. The term hymenium is employed to represent a 

 more or less expanded surface, on which the fructification is 

 produced, and is, in fact, the fruit-bearing surface. When no 

 such surface is present, the fruit is borne on threads, proceeding 

 direct from the root-like filaments of the mycelium, or an inter- 

 mediate kind of cushion or stroma. The two families in which 

 an hymenium is present are called Hymenomycetes and Gastero- 

 mycetes. In the former, the hymenium is exposed ; in the latter, it 

 is at first enclosed. We must examine each of these separately. 



The common mushroom may be accepted, by way of illustra.- 

 tion, as a type of the family Hymenomycetes, in which the 

 hymenium is exposed, and is, in fact, the most noticeable 

 feature in the family from which its name is derived. The 

 pileus or cap bears on its under surface radiating plates or gills, 

 consisting of the hymenium, over which are thickly scattered 

 the basidia, each surmounted by four spicules, and on each 

 spicule a spore. When mature, these spores fall freely upon the 

 ground beneath, imparting to it the general colour of the spores. 

 But it must be observed that the hymenium takes the form of 

 gill-plates in only one order of Hymenomycetes^ namely, the 

 Agaricini; and here, as in Cantharellus, the hymenium is some- 

 times spread over prominent veins rather than gills. Still 

 further divergence is manifest in the Polyporei, in which order 

 the hymenium lines the inner surface of pores or tubes, which 

 are normally on the under side of the pileus. Both these orders 

 include an immense number of species, the former more or less 

 fleshy, the latter more or less tough and leathery. There are 

 still other forms and orders in this family, as the Hydnei, in 

 which the hymenium clothes the surface of prickles or spines, 

 and the Auricularini, in which the hymenium is entirely or 



