260 FUNGI PART n. 



SECTION III. 

 FUNGI. 



THE Fungi are enormously numerous. No less than 

 2,000 of the highest and most conspicuous of these 

 plants have been figured ; many more have been de- 

 scribed ; multitudes of those inhabiting the torrid zone 

 are unknown ; and the microscopic and parasitic tribes 

 are innumerable. Though with a few exceptions en- 

 tirely formed of cellular tissue, the fungi resemble ani- 

 mals in respiration and chemical constitution. They 

 contain more azote than any other of the Cryptogamia, 

 and obtain it chiefly from their food, which consists of 

 animal and vegetable substances alive, dead, or decom- 

 posed. They inhale oxygen, and exhale carbonic acid 

 gas, so that they never form true chlorophyll. No 

 plants are more dependent on heat and moisture ; 

 many perform all the functions of life and reproduction 

 independently of light, preferring dark and shady 

 places to sunshine. 



The Fungi form two principal groups, distinguished 

 by their mode of fructification. In the higher group, 

 Sporiferi, the fungus produces naked spores either 

 single or compound, by means of which it may be 

 multiplied. In the lower group, Sporidiiferi, the fruc- 

 tification consists of sporidia, enclosed in a distinct 

 sac. The Sporiferi include the following orders, 

 Hymenomycetes, Gasteromycetes, Coniomycetes, and 

 Hyphomycetes. The Sporidiiferi include the Ascoiny- 



