INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOGAMIC BOTANY. 315 



phium, Pachnocybe, Podosporiiom, Sclerographium, &c., are 

 compound Bematioids ; Ghondromyces and Stigmatella 

 are compound Mucedines ; Epicoccwm, a compound Sepe- 

 donioid, &c. 



337. One of the most remarkable productions usually- 

 assigned to this group is Ceratium, which, together with such 

 species as Isaria Friesii, is the utmost dignity at which 

 Syphomycetes can arrive, if they are not really Hymenomyce- 

 tous. Few if any exotic species are known, with the exception 

 of one or two from America, and Sclerographium rigidum, 

 which occurs in India. Podosporium, however, which appears 

 to be abundantly developed on various species of Rhus, is not 

 uncommon in South Carolina (Fig. 71, a). It is a compound 

 Helminthosporiwrn. Ceratium has been found in Ceylon 

 by Mr. Thwaites. 



IV. CONIOMYCETES, Fr. 



Mycelium filamentous or vesicular, often obsolete; fertile 

 threads mostly short, naked or surrounded by a perithecium ; 

 spores abundant, often large in proportion to the rest of the 

 plant, though sometimes extremely minute and multitudinous. 



338. This grand division is distinguished by the vast predo- 

 minance of the reproductive bodies over the rest of the plant, 

 if not in size, at least in abundance, and from the ease with 

 which in general they fall from the point of attachment, in 

 consequence of which, as the name implies, they have a dusty 

 appearance, and often soil the fingers of those who handle 

 them. The researches of the Messrs. Tulasne have thrown 

 immense light upon them, in some cases with scarcely any 

 anticipation of the results, in others confirmatory of conjectures 

 before thrown out by authors, like Fries, gifted with that innate 

 tact which divines affinities, though from untoward circum- 

 stances it has not the power of proving them. In some cases 

 there is a decided perithecium or peridium, in others there is 

 no approach to such an organ, and it may be observed, that 

 in very nearly allied productions it may be either present or 

 entirely absent. 



339. There are three principal groups, each of which is, 

 however, again divisible, and each consisting of numerous 



