613 



£i)c Crra£urg nf ^otam?. 



HYPO 



I though when young it is always simple. 

 ; The fruits, which are produced in long 

 I clusters, each containing between one and 

 ! two hundred, are beautifully polished, of 

 ; a rich yellowish-brown colour, and of ir- 

 i regular form. In Upper Egypt they form 

 i part of the food of the poorer classes of in- 

 i habitants, the part eaten being the fibrous 

 I mealy husk, which tastes almost exactly 

 i like gingerbread, but its dry husky nature 

 I renders" it unpalatable. The hard tough 

 ; wood is used for making various domestic 

 ' utensils ; and rosaries are cut out of the 



■ horny seed. See Plate 18. [A. S.] 



| HYPHASMA. A name applied to the 

 ! mycelium of moulds, as subiculum is often 

 j given to the same growth in Sphcerice. In 

 I neither case is it absolutely necessary, 

 j though, like many other needless terms, 

 ; consecrated by habit. [M. J. B.] 



| HYPHOMYCETES. One of the great di- 

 i visions of Fungi, containing those species 

 ! which have naked spores borne on free or 

 < only fasciculate threads. In the two first 

 j divisions only are the threads at all com- 

 I pacted.and it is by these that they are con- 

 I nected with Hymenomyceies. Care must be 



■ taken not to confound them with the vesi- 

 i cular moulds which have a similar habit. 



As they are plants of an extremely simple 



structure, it is not surprising that some 



. conditions of more compound forms should 



j occasionally exhibit their characters, ex 



, actly as the organs of which phamogams 



j are composedhave their analogues amougst 



the simpler cryptogams. Accordingly the 



early stage of certain species of Hypoxylon 



\ and Splueria cannot be distinguished from 



i them, and the young of Erysiphe exhibits 



■ all the characters of Oidium. Afew, more- 

 over, either produce a second subsidiary- 

 fruit, as some species of Aspergillus or Pero- 

 nospora, but whether they should be re- 

 moved into the sporidiiferous series is at 

 present matter of doubt. A great portion 



. of the moulds which act so prominent 

 : a part in the decomposition of organised 

 ! bodies belong to this section, and some of 

 ! them, as Peronospora infestans, are of im- 

 ; mense importance as affecting substances 

 of extensive use to man. As objects 

 ; of interest for the observer of nature, 

 : they exhibit an endless variety of forms, 

 ; which are frequently most attractive. 



■ Most of them, however, require the assis- 

 i tance of the microscope, even for the in- 

 i spection of their outward form, and they 

 ; are difficult to observe when moistened on 

 ; account of their retaining so much air 

 ! about them. They occur in all parts of the 

 j world, and in the shape of yeast some of 



them perform a most important part in 

 '■ domestic economy. A few have been de- 

 ; tected in amber. Like many other fungi 



■ they have immense powers of penetration, 

 I and accordingly they are found in situa- 

 tions apparently removed from all external 

 access. They occur in the most deep-seated 

 tissues, occasionally producingfruit though 

 removed from the direct influence of light 

 and air, and this not only in the vegetable 

 kingdom. Amongst animals they are the 



source of many cutaneous disorders, and 

 sometimes, as in the case of silkworms, they 

 produce death. A case is even mentioned 

 by Mr. Beale. as reported in the Lancet of 

 January 1861, in which a few threads seemed 

 to have formed the nucleus of a large calcu- 

 lus. They occur in all climates where there 

 is sufficient moisture, and some of the more 

 common species appear to be complete cos- 

 mopolites. The following natural orders 

 have been proposed to include the species :— 

 Isariacei : stem compound ; spores dry, 



easily dispersed. 

 Stilbacei : stem compound ; spores form- 

 ing a diffluent gelatinous mass. 

 Dematiei : fertile threads more or less 



carbonised ; spores often compound. 

 Mucedines : fertile threads hyaline or 



coloured ; spores mostly simple. 

 Sepeduniei: fertile threads scarcely dis- 

 tinct from the spawn ; spores very 

 abundant. 

 These latter pass evidently into Coniomy- 

 cetes. [M. J. B.] 



HYPHOSTROMA. The mycelium or 

 spawn of f ungals. 



HYPNiEI. A natural order of pleurocar- 

 pous mosses, with a nodding capsule, elon- 

 gated footstalk, and mostly cylindrical 

 stems, with imbricated leaves ; and distin- 

 guished from Leucodontei by the cernuous 

 not erect capsules. In a very few species 

 the stem is flat, and the leaves two-ranked. 

 The species for the most part creep over 

 trees, rocks, or shady banks, though some- 

 times growing in exposed pastures, form- 

 ing frequently thick tufts. A few are pin- 

 nate, but are easily distinguished from 

 Keckera by their nodding capsules. Hyp- 

 num is the principal genus. [M. J. B.] 



HYPNUM. One of the largest and most 

 important genera of mosses belonging to 

 the division which has lateral fruit, num- 

 bering above ninety species in Great Bri- 

 tain alone. It has been divided into various 

 genera dependent on slight differences of 

 habit and condition of the leaf-cells, but if 

 capable of accurate discrimination, they 

 are rather to be considered as subgenera. 

 The peristome in all is double, consisting 

 of an outer row of sixteen equidistant lan- 

 ceolate acuminate teeth, the inner of a 

 membrane divided halfway down into six- 

 teen keeled, often perforated processes, 

 alternating with the outer teeth, with in- 

 termediate cilia which are either solitary 

 or two or three together. The capsule is 

 more or less curved or irregular. It differs 

 from Leskea in the nodding capsule and the 

 cilia of the inner peristome, and from Iso- 

 thecium in th§ curved not straight and 

 symmetrical capsule, and straggling not 

 dendroid habit. Many of the species are 

 very large and ornamental. They occur in 

 all parts of the world. H.tamariscinmn is 

 much used by the makers of artificial flowers 

 in the construction of moss roses. [M. J. B.J 



HYPO. In Greek compounds = under. 

 HYPOBLASTUS. The flat dorsal cotyle- 

 don of a grass. 



