OP CBBTACEOUS PLANTS. 267 



" species," with references to the original descriptions, will be 

 found in the list of Cretaceous plants at the beginning of the 

 volume. 



Class FUNGI. 



A group of plants parallel to the AlgiB, ranging from uni- 

 cellular to large multicellular forms. The)- are all without 

 chlorophyll, unable to manufacture tlieir own food, and are 

 therefore parasitic or saprophytic. 



In comparison with the numerous fossils, vegetable and 

 otherwise, which have been described as Algae, there are very 

 few Cretaceous specimens which have been placed in the group 

 of Fungi. 



A few " species " of parasitic fungi have been described as 

 having attacked several of the dicotyledonous leaves which are 

 so numerous in Cretaceous times; and while it is possible that 

 a few of these are in reality the remains of fungal infection- 

 spots on the leaves, most of them suggest that they owe their 

 origin to the accidents of petrifaction. In 1896, Krasser 

 (p. 116, pis. xi-xii) described and figured some traces of fungi 

 on the supposed Monocotyledon Typhmloijpum cretaceum, but he 

 refrained from naming them, and said "aus der Kreideformation 

 ist bisher iiberhaupt kein einziger Pilz bekannt liber dessen 

 systematische Stellung man sich mit Sioherheit ausscrn konnto.'' 



There are now known, however, undoubted fungal petri- 

 factions. Most of these are found in the woods which have 

 their anatomical structure preserved, and in which many of the 

 cells are permeated by fungi. Among the petrified remains of 

 the Japanese Cretaceous forests recently described by Stopes & 

 Pujii (1910), parasitic fungi showing their reproductive organs 

 have been discovered inhabiting the leaves and stems of the 

 higher plants. These are among the best petrifactions of fungi 

 known from any geological formation. Septate and aseptate 

 forms are recorded, and Suzuki (1910) even figures the micro- 

 scopic section of a petrifaction showing the details of an 

 ascomycetous perithecium. 



