PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 17 



is necessary however to remark, that these productions, instead 

 of naked spores, have fructifying bodies {sporidia) enclosed in 

 sacs [asci or sjjoraui/ia) . (Plate 1, fig. 2.) 



In those Fungi of the second scries which have asci, the 

 receptacle which bears the fructifying stratum, whether exposed 

 or concealed from view, is more or less complicated in struc- 

 ture, while in those which have sporangia, it is loosely fila- 

 mentous, as in Muced'mes. In a few instances however the 

 sporangia themselves are cellular ; but in such cases the true 

 nature of the productions is often somewhat doubtful. On 

 these grounds we have two primary divisions, — Ascomycetes 

 and Physomycetes, whose names are indicative of their distinct 

 characters of ascus-bearing and sporangium-bearing Fungi. 



The first group, of Ascomycetes, which meets us, is that which 

 is best known, as it includes such productions as the Morel, 

 and the large Peziz(e (Plate 22, fig. 4, 5, 6), or cup-shaped 

 Fungi, which attract admiration from their form and colours. 

 The scarlet Peziza, common in some districts on sticks, the 

 orange Peziza of wood, the vesicular Peziza of hot-beds, are 

 all well-known examples, and there are many others of va- 

 riable size and beauty which will reward researches in our 

 woods. One of the most curious, Peziza venosa (Plate 22, 

 fig. 6), is a common inhalntant of the naked soil in woods or 

 gardens in spring, some inches in breadth, and remarkable for 

 its wrinkled hymcnium and nitrous odour. The leading spe- 

 cies of the group are mitre-shaped or club-shaped ; but the 

 hymcnium, and the receptacle on which it is spread, by va- 

 rious gradations, at length form a perfect cup, which in the 

 higher species is borne upon a stem, but in others is perfectly 

 sessile or expanded, in which case it resembles closely those 

 Fungi of the Gill-bearing division, which present a smooth, 

 even hymcnium {Auricidarini) . These Fungi are called collec- 



c 



