i66 



MYCOLOGY 



Family 4. Ascobolace^.— The apothecia of the fungi of this 

 family are unstalked. They are superficial and grow up on manure. 

 The peridium is mostly thin, or wanting, and the hypothecium, which 

 is well developed, consists of rounded parenchyma-like cells. In 

 Ascobolus, the ascospores are discharged from the asci by a squirting 



Fig. 58. — A, B, Lachnea sculellala. A, Habit; B, ascus with paraphysis; C, D, 

 Lachnea hemisphierica; C, habit; D, ascus with paraphysiS; E, Sarcospktsra arenosa 

 habit; F, G, Sarcospkcera coronaria; F, ascus; G, habit; H, Sarcosphara arenicola 

 ascus with paraphysis. {See Die naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien I. i, p. i8i.) 



action, and this is accomplished probably by the pressure of the cell 

 wall upon the cell sap. The end of the ascus breaks open suddenly, the 

 ascus collapses, and the eight spores are discharged simultaneously 

 along with the cell sap. In Ascoholus, which is related to Pyronema, 

 the ascogonium is at first multicellular, but all the cells empty their 



