ASCOMYCETES. 107 



fruit being much more compact and rounded. The 

 fruit-stalks (fig. 4) are large, bulbous or inflated at 

 the ends (fig. 5), and from the inflations arise the 

 crowded rows of spores. The spores are rounded, 

 and rough (scabrous) on the surface. On removing 

 most of the spores from the head of fruit, each row 

 of spores is found to arise from a very short stalk. 



Plate VII. fig. 21 represents a beautiful species of 

 Rhinot'richum, which is found upon decaying and sickly 

 plants, and upon rotting sticks, forming a minute 

 grey mould. The fruit-stalks (fig. 22) are large, 

 sparingly branched, septate or jointed, appearing 

 brownish under the microscope. Their ends are 

 branched, mostly biternate (fig. 23), i. e. each branch 

 dividing into three branchlets, and these again into 

 three still finer ones. The ends of the branchlets are 

 inflated, and coated with little points, upon each of 

 which a smooth white spore (fig. 24) is placed. 



ASCOMYCETES (aoveo?, a bottle, fjLv/cijs, fungus). The 

 Fungi belonging to this Order are found upon the 

 stems and leaves of plants, and upon decaying sub- 

 stances, as dung, &c. They are usually evident to 

 the naked eye, some even equalling the Hymenomy- 

 cetous Fungi in size ; and many of them are brilliantly 

 coloured. They are in general distinguishable with 

 facility from the Fungi of other Orders, by the arrange- 

 ment of the spores in colourless sacs or asci (PL VIII. 

 fig. 9), resembling those noticed in the case of the 

 Lichens. These asci are usually enclosed in a cap- 

 sule or perithecium. The mycelium is usually buried 

 in the matrix, so as not to be conspicuous. 



Helvelldcei. To this family belongs the large genus 

 Peziza, some of the species of which are beautifully 

 coloured, yet scarcely microscopic. Among these 

 may be mentioned Peziza omphalodes (PL VIII. fig. 6), 

 which forms little red masses upon damp ceilings. It 

 does not possess the ordinary form of a Peziza, which 

 is that of a cup fixed at the end of a stalk, like a 



