MO ULDS—HYPHOMYCETES 285 



their allies. The former has a capitate form, typically a com- 

 pound stem, with a globose head ; and the latter assumes a 

 cylindrical or club-shaped form, the stem and head being 

 continuous. The surface is generally powdery with the 

 minute conidia. As to their autonomy, it is known that, 

 in several instances, the species of Stilbum represent the 

 conidia of a peculiar genus of the Sphaeriaceae, that of 

 Sphaerostilbe, whilst others have given no indication of such 

 an association. Of Isaria the greater proportion, probably all 

 which flourish on dead insects, are the conidia of Cordyceps} 

 The Phaeostilheae are more variable in their conidia, being 

 grouped in five sections, as in Dematieae, of which it is the 

 analogue, and they represent a somewhat higher develop- 

 ment. Some of the genera exactly correspond to genera of 

 Dematieae, but with a compound stem, as for example Sporocybe 

 and Periconia, Podosporium and Helminthosporium, Sclero- 

 graphium and Mystrosporium. Instances of undoubted rela- 

 tionship with the higher Fungi are rare, but in some cases 

 it is suspected. 



The family of Tuberoularieae includes genera which recede 

 from the moulds in their compact form, thickish stroma-like base, 

 more or less pustular, erumpent habit, and somewhat gelatinous 

 consistency, which suggest analogies with such genera as Dacryo- 

 myces, amongst the Tremellinae. Here again are two parallel 

 sections, the Mucedineae and the Dematieae,m the former of which 

 the colour is whitish, or brightly coloured, and in the latter 

 dusky or black. The subdivisions follow the same plan as in 

 the preceding families, firstly into sections based on the septa- 

 tion of the conidia, and afterwards into genera, or groups of 

 genera, according to the character of the stroma. The typical 

 genus, Tubercularia, with some sixty species, is composed 

 chiefly of the conidia of corticolous species of Nectria, of 

 which a familiar example, may be found upon nearly every 

 dead twig of currant bush lying on the ground 2 (Fig. 132). 

 The whole surface of the twig will be found to be covered 

 from end to end with little bright pink prominences, bursting 



\ See Vegetable Wasps, etc., by M. C. Cooke, London (1892), p. 189. 

 2 "A Curtant Twig and Something on It," by M. C. Cooke, in Gardener's 

 Chronicle, 28th Jan. 1871. 



