34 



FUNGI. 



the other is so rapid, that the relation between the spores and 

 threads, and their mode of attachment, has never been definitely 

 made out. It has been supposed that the spinulose projections 

 from the capillitium in some species are the remains 

 of pedicels from which the spores have fallen, but 

 there is no evidence beyond this supposition in its 

 favour, whilst on the other hand, in Stemonitis, for 

 instance, there is a profuse interlacing capillitium, 

 and no spines have been detected. In order to 

 strengthen the supposition, spines should be more 

 commonly present. The threads, or capillitium, form 

 a beautiful reticulated network in Stemonitis, Cribra- 

 ria, DiacJuea, Dictydiwm, &c. In Spumaria, Beticu- 

 laria, Lycogala, &c, they are almost obsolete.* In 

 no group is the examination of the development of 

 structure more dim cult, for the reasons already 

 alleged, than in the Myxogastres. 



Niduxakiacei.' — This small group departs in some 

 important particulars from the general type of struc- 

 ckcea elegant. t ure present in the rest of the Grasteromycetes.t 

 The plants here included may be described under three parts, 

 the mycelium, the peridium, and the sporangia. The mycelium 

 is often plentiful, stout, rigid, interlacing, and 

 coloured, running over the surface of the soil, or 

 amongst the vegetable debris on which the fungi 

 establish themselves. The peridia are seated upon 

 this mycelium, and in most instances are at length 

 open above, taking the form of cups, or beakers. 

 These organs consist of three strata of tissue vary. 

 vernicoms. ing in structure, the external being fibrous, and 

 sometimes hairy, the interior cellular and delicate, the inter- 

 mediate thick and at length tough, coriaceous, and resistant. 



* In some of the genera, as, for instance, in Badhamia, Enerthenema, and 

 Reticularis,, the spores are produced -within delicate cells or cysts, which are 

 afterwards absorbed. 



t Tulasne, "Essai d'une Monographie des Nidulariees," in "Ann. des Sci 

 Nat." (1844), i. 41 and 64. 



