336 INTRODUCTION TO CEYPTOGAMIC BOTANY. 



peridia, consisting of one or more membranes, inclosing, when 

 mature, a dry mass of threads or plates, and spores ; at 

 length often bursting. Threads of various structure, some- 

 times containing one or more spirals. 



360. This is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable groups of 

 Fungi, and at present one on which we have the least inform- 

 ation, as regards the history of the development from the 

 spore to the perfect plant. In their early stage they consist 

 of a pulpy or creamlike mass, collected in distinct globules, or 

 creeping over the matrix in the form of branched anastomosing 

 veins, often of bright and pure tints, or occasionally void of 

 any definite form or order, which produces sometimes one, 

 sometimes many peridia. In this stage the tissues are so deli- 

 cate that they exhibit no structure, and if hardened by alco- 

 hol they give no further information ; just, however, as these 

 Fungi are passing from the pulpy to the dry pulverulent state, 

 which all assume in their second stage of growth, there are 

 slight indications of structure, and in one or two instances the 

 mode of attachment of the spores has been discovered, viz., to 

 short threads, singly or in groups, and sometimes, as in Bad- 

 hamia and Enerthenema,, surrounded by a cyst. 



361. From their great fragility when fully grown, and the 

 free dispersion of the dustlike spores, they are with difficulty 

 preserved in the herbarium ; but no Fungi afford more elegance 

 of form, or singularity of structure, according to the nature of 

 the peridium, flocci, and the disposition of the spores, which 

 are their three main elements. These parts may be taken in 

 order with a view to the elucidation of the group. 



362. The peridium sometimes consists of a mere membrane, 

 with a very slight indication of cells, if any. Sometimes it is 

 studded with granules, or has granules imbedded in its sub- 

 stance, and sometimes it is traversed by branched or reticu- 

 lated veins, more or less distinct, according to circumstances, 

 from the rest of the peridium. In some cases there is no stem 

 whatever, and the peridium, which may be either single or 

 double, splits irregularly, or binrsts into radiating fragments, 

 which present a pretty flowerlike appearance, especially in 

 those cases where there is a distinct columella at the base of 



