CHAPTER XXII 



IMPERFECT CAPSULAR FUNGI SPHAEEOPSIDEAE 



In the old arrangement by Fries, one of the primary divisions 

 of Fungi was that termed Coniomycetes, which was interpreted 

 as " Dust-fungi," and was represented as including those fungi 

 in which the spores were the principal feature, such spores 

 appearing like an impalpable dust. It was, perhaps, an odd 

 mixture, but this group included not only the Sphaeropsideae, 

 as at present limited, and the Melanconieae, which are closely 

 related, but also the Uredineae and the Ustilagineae, which are 

 not related at all, and are now separated and rank as a distinct 

 group. It need not be explained here wherefore the Uredineae 

 and its allies were entirely out of place in an association with 

 Fungi which either possessed a distinct perithecium, in which 

 the spores were generated, or a pseudoperithecium formed from 

 the matrix. 



The group now under consideration is analogous, in ex- 

 ternal features, to the Pyrenomycetes, but wholly deficient of 

 asci. The peritheeia, or pseudoperitheeia, include only stylo- 

 spores, and have been assumed to be imperfect representatives, 

 or imperfect stages or conditions, of the Pyrenomyceteae, and 

 hence called " imperfect capsular Fungi." In some instances 

 this may be undoubtedly true, but we think it assuming 

 too much to affirm that all are imperfect conditions of higher 

 Fungi, because it has been demonstrated to be the case in a 

 comparatively few instances. It is at least premature to 

 decline acknowledgment of thousands of very distinct forms of 

 Fungi in a systematic position, simply because a few of them 

 have been shown to be transitional, whilst the majority may 

 never be demonstrated to be other than autonomous. This 



