126 



DISCOMYCETES 



[CH. 



"In the beech forests," he says, "the trees are much diseased; on the 

 rough excrescences grow vast numbers of yellow balls. They are of the 

 colour of the yolk of an egg, and vary in size from that of a bullet to that 

 of a small apple ; in shape they are globular, but a little produced towards 

 the point of attachment. They grow both on the branches and stems in 

 groups. When young they contain much fluid and are quite tasteless, but 

 in their older and altered state they form a very essential article of food for 

 the Fuegian. The boys collect them and they are eateij uncooked with 

 fish." He observed that they were smooth when young, "the external 

 surface marked with white spaces as of a membrane covering a cell"; later 

 the whole surface is "honeycombed by regular cells." These are the separate 

 apothecia, considerable numbers of which occur on the same stroma. Bertero, 

 at about the same time, recorded that the Chilian species {C. Berteroi) threw 



Fig. 87. Cyttan'a Gimiiii, Berk.; u.. twig oi Nothofagus Cunninghami with knobs bearing the 

 fungus, X 4 ; i5. group of stromata ; c. single stroma cut across ; all after Berkeley. 



