INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOGAMIC BOTANY. 343 



separation of the two ; the outer bursting in a stellate manner 

 and becoming ultimately reflexed, while the inner, which is 

 either sessile or pedunculate, preserves its original position, and 

 disperses its spores by means of one or more apertures, which 

 are sometimes elegantly grooved or plicate. Where the outer 

 coat consists of two layers, they sometimes partially separate; 

 and while the outer preserves its convexity, the inner, which 

 was first reflexed, becomes inverted, and is suspended from the 

 tips of the lacinise, so as to present a very curious aspect, of 

 which advantage has been taken by the older herbalists to 

 record many extraordinary fancies, giving the form of a human 

 head to the inner peridium, while they made a sort of body 

 of the outer. In a species from Ceylon, the peridia are 

 seated gregariously on a thick mycelium, while in the curious 

 Cape genus, Broomeia, there is no outer peridium, but in its 

 stead a thick corky mass, in the facets of which the little 

 peridia are seated. 



3*69. It was stated that the inner peridium is occasionally 

 stipitate. This stem is sometimes elongated in such a manner 

 as to form a very prominent feature. In Tulostoma, the 

 peridium is at first sessile, but the outer coat is ruptured at a 

 very early stage, and the stem, which was at first very short, 

 is rapidly carried up, and clothed with dependent furfuraceous 

 scales. In Batarrea, however, where the outer peridium 

 assumes the form of a distinct volva, consisting of several 

 coats, inclosing a thick elastic gelatinous substance, the elonga- 

 tion of the stem is still more curious, attaining dimensions of 

 one or more feet. The pileus, in this case, is greatly reduced, 

 and is at first surmounted by a portion of the membranes of 

 the volva, while the flocci exhibit distant spiral threads or 

 perfect rings in their cavity. 



370. The gelatinous element assumes a different form in 

 the curious genera, Mitremyces and H%isseia. Sometimes it 

 forms a multitude of intricate columns, and sometimes assumes 

 the appearance of scales, supporting the peridium, which is 

 surrounded by a thick coriaceous or cartilaginous covering, 

 which either splits off in the shape of a fissured calyptra, or 

 hangs down in irregular segments ; the inner peridium has 



