DISCOID FUNGI— DISCOMYCETES 181 



condition probably exhibits a more definite disc, but the asci 

 are well developed, containing eight sporidia of an elongated 

 form, at first nucleate but ultimately triseptate. In the 

 genus Tyrnpanis it is not unusual to meet with cups which 

 have no asci and only bear stylospores or conidia. The various 

 species of Cyphella are suspicious of relations to Peziza, but not 

 yet satisfactorily determined. The species in this genus are 

 imitations of Peziza in form, but the disc is more like the 

 hymenium of Gorticium, and hence the genus is located in the 

 Hymenomycetes. Many of these were called by the name of 

 Peziza before the fructification was investigated, and in the 

 future some of them may have to be restored again as the 

 stylosporous conditions of true Pezizae. There are still to be 

 found, in two groups widely apart, the Clavaria nigrita in the 

 Hymenomycetes and Geoglossum nigritum amongst the Disco- 

 mycetes, hardly distinguishable in appearance, but bearing in 

 the former case naked spores and in the latter sporidia enclosed 

 in asci. 



The relations of the discoid Fungi to other groups ha.s 

 sometimes been matter of speculation. Some of the larger 

 Pezizae have a subterranean habit in the first instance, and the 

 cups almost closed, excepting a perforation at the apex ; but 

 in Berggrenia the species are completely closed and subter- 

 ranean. In all other respects they are Pezizae, the inner walls 

 of the receptacle bearing the asci in the form of a continuous 

 hymenium. Another genus, at present grouped with the 

 Tuberaceae, 1 or truffle family, is called Hydnocystis, and the 

 structure is so similar that it becomes doubtful whether there 

 is any valid generic difference. At any rate this appears to be 

 the point where the Tuberaceae are united to the Discomycetes, 

 and whence they diverge. 



If the several genera of Patellaria, Patinella, Durella, and 

 Zecanidion are compared with such, genera as Lecidia amongst 



1 Berkeley says : ' ' There is a small group of Pezizeae which grow in sand or on 

 loose earth, in which the cups are more or less buried. These species are scarcely 

 distinguishable from Hydnocystis. In the species which are more nearly allied 

 to Peziza, the asci are often cylindrical, and the sporidia of moderate dimensions. " 

 And again : "Hydnocystis is, in fact, very near to such Pezizae [P. seputta, etc.], 

 though essentially distinct and far more neat in habit" (Introduction to Crypto- 

 gamic Botany, p. 286). ' 



