XITI. FUNGI. 951 



filamentous veils, which extend from the stipes to the margin of the pile us, thus 

 protecting when young the organs of fructification {Agaricus, Amanita, &c.). 



The term pileus is usually given to the dilated portion of a Toadstool, above the 

 pedicel, which always bears on its lower surface the organs of fructification and 

 their appendages, wMch consist of gills or tubes or processes. The gills {lamellw) are 

 radiating or flabellate appendicular and membranous plates {Agaricus). The tubes 

 form small cylindric or angular pipes {Boletus, Polyporus, &c.). The processes are 

 teeth or points (Hydnum) . These appendages are clothed with a special fructiferous 

 layer, the hymenium. The name of receptacle is indifferently applied to the entire 

 [reproductive system of the] Fungus {Agaricus, &c.), or to the part which bears the 

 organs of fructification {basidia, thecce, spores, &c.); which part may be filamentous 

 (Moulds), or membranous {Thelephora), or alveolate {Morchella). The clinode is an 

 organ analogous to the hymenium, springing from the inner wall of the conceptacle 

 [a closed sporiferous cavity] , or from the surface of the receptacle, and which termi- 

 nates in simple or branched filaments bearing an isolated spore at their extremities; 

 It might in strictness be called a hymenium, for it fulfils the functions of that organ. 



The spores (seeds or reproductive bodies) are free, or borne on the extremity of 

 a filament, or inserted on special organs called basidia, surmounted by 2-4 points 

 or sterigmata, or enclosed in cells {sporangia, thecce, &c.). They are formed of two 

 membranes ; the outer (epispore) is smooth, areolate, or verrucose, &c. ; the inner 

 {endospore) is thin, colourless, apparently structureless, and contains granules, and 

 sometimes particles of oil. The spores germinate by emitting 1 or 2 filaments, the 

 first rudiments of the mycelium. The fertilization of Fungi was, till lately, involved 

 in complete obscurity ; but the researches of MM. de Bary and Woronin encourage 

 the hope that it wiU shortly be as well known as that of other Cryptogams. It is 

 supposed that Fungi possess, besides the spores, other sporomorphic reproductive 

 organs, which are : — 



Female oegaits. — Oogonia, globose bodies, at first filled with a granular mass 

 which divides into several reproductive globules, named oospores. Gonospheria only 

 differ from oogonia in the condensation of the protoplasm at the centre of the 

 cell, consequently leaving an empty space between the cell and the protoplasm ; 

 this entails a slight modification of structure, but little differing from that of the 

 antheridia. The scolecite is a vermiform body, composed of cells somewhat resem- 

 bling oogonia, arranged either in little groups or in linear series. 



Male oegans. — The antheridia are composed of simple cells, springing from 

 the mycelium under or around the female organs. They are at first filiform, then 

 they swell at the top, separate from the mycelium by a septum, become filled with 

 protoplasm, but never with antherozoids, and rest on the female organs to effect 

 fertilization. The spermatia are simple cells, ovoid, straight or bent, never globose, 

 and are enclosed in a conceptacle {spermogonium), whence they issue, mixed with muci- 

 lage, as threads and globules, which harden in the air, but which in water are reduced 

 to cells, without leaving any trace of the parts with which they were connected. These, 

 which have been regarded as male sexual organs, are intended, according to some 

 modern botanists, for fertilization. They do not emit germ filaments, as they ought 



