10 OUTLINES OF BRITISH FUNGOLOGY. 



guished by the predominance of the gelatinous element. Rotten 

 sticks in onr hedges or woods often present bright, tremulous, 

 gelatinous masses of bright-orange, purple, or dark-brown, 

 which at once attract our notice, while the trunks of the elder 

 and some other trees afford ear-shaped, flaccid masses, which 

 almost escape notice when dry, but with the first shower are 

 exposed to the most careless observer. Sometimes, again, on 

 an old stump, or at the base of a living oak, enormous masses 

 are found resembling the convolute intestines of some ani- 

 mal, but distinguished by their rich ferruginous or yellowish 

 tints. These Fungi are very curious in point of structure, but 

 at present I am only endeavouring to give a general view of 

 the different objects which form the immediate study of the 

 Fungologist. The Fungi of this group are called Tremellini, 

 fi'om their soft, flaccid character. (See Plate 18, fig. 0, 7, 8.) 

 These six groups form subdivisions of one great association 

 of Fungi, characterized by their hymenium being more or 

 less exposed, and at the same time bearing naked Spores at- 

 tached to the tips of certain cells called Sporophores (Plate 1, 

 fig. I.e.), and distinguished from other Fungi with an exposed 

 hymenium in which the reproductive bodies are contained in 

 sacs called asci, and have the name of Sporidia (Plate 1, fig. 2. 

 a. b.) . These distinctions can be ascertained only by the mi- 

 croscope ; but a very little practice will at once decide which 

 structure prevails in the larger and more conspicuous species. 

 The general name of the division is Hymenomycetes, the hy- 

 menium being the prominent character. 



The hymenium, or fructifying surface, has hitherto been 

 more or less exposed. It may indeed at first be concealed, 

 but ultimately it has free access to the air, though, except in 

 the lower species, not to the light. The second main division 

 of Fungi has, on the contrary, the fructifying surface con- 



