PRELIMINARY OBSEHVATIOXS. \) 



are scarcely ever fleshy, but for the most part coriaceous, with 

 an admixture of waxy, membranous, or gelatinous species. 

 As in the former instances, many are resupinate ; but in ge- 

 neral, the stem is less common than in the other groups, and 

 when present, not very distiuct from the pileus, but confluent 

 with it. In the genus Thelephora (Plate 17, fig. 4, 5, 6) there 

 are slight traces of folds, and in a few species of Stereum there 

 are bristles or bristle-shaped processes, which on a careless 

 view might confound them with the species of the Tooth- 

 bearing Fungi. They vary extremely in colour, and sometimes 

 assume the brightest blue, the most brilliant vermilion, and 

 other vivid tints. The group is called Auriculanni, from some 

 of the most characteristic being ear-shaped. 



We have hitherto seen, at least in the higher forms, some- 

 thing like a pileus, which indeed may gradually be attached 

 by its upper surface, so as to present to the eye nothing more 

 than the hymcnium. There is however a group in which the 

 pileus vanishes altogether, so that the club-shaped receptacle 

 is covered with the fructifying surface. If the stem is branched, 

 we may have every variety of tree-like form. The yellow Cla- 

 varia fastigiata of our meadows, or the white, candle-like 

 bundles, Clavaria vermiculata, so common on our lawns in 

 autumn, are examples familiar to every observer of Nature. 

 (See Plate 18, fig. 2, 3, 4, 5.) In the one case, each plant is 

 simple ; in the other, the whole presents a strongly branched 

 and closely packed mass. Here, again, we have the most 

 beautiful colouring, though several of the finest European spe- 

 cies have not yet been noticed in our Avoods. One or two 

 common species occur on sticks or fallen trunks, which are 

 decidedly gelatinous in point of texture and consistence. These 

 Fungi are named Clavati, from their club-like form. 



There yet remains another group of allied Fungi, distin- 



