513 



€f)e CmSurg of Matmxy. 



[ftjsa 



when the peri di urn bursts. Puff-balls are a 

 familiar example. 



3. Coxiojitcetes, in -which the spawn 

 or vegetative part is reduced to a mini- 



I mum, and the abundant spores at length 

 : form a dusty or more rarely a gelatinous 

 ! mass. The rust and bunt of corn afford 

 ready instances. 



4. Htphojitcetes, in which the vege- 

 i tative part consists mostly of threads 

 ■ which are not woven into a solid mass 



except in a few cases which border on 

 I Hymenomycetes. The naked-seeded moulds 

 ; belong to this division. 



5. Ascomycetes, in which the sacs or 

 asci which contain the sporidia are either 

 packed into an exposed hymenium, or line 

 the interior of the fruit-bearing cysts. 

 Morels afford an example of the first, and 



! the insect Sphcerice of the second. 



I 6. Physomycetes, in which the compo- 

 nent threads are more or less free as in 

 Byphomycetes, The common bread mould 

 is an excellent example. 



Each of these divisions is again divided. 

 In a few instances the bodies which at 

 first sight seem to be the spores or ulti- 

 mate fruit, are in reality a sort of prothal- 

 lus. Sometimes a third evolution takes 

 place before the ultimate spore is formed. 

 The truly parasitic fungi of the third di- 

 vision give us examples. 

 The uses of Fungi are various. To enu- 



I merate them here would be merely to go 



| over ground which must be again travel- 

 led under individual orders and species. Tt 

 is sufficient to say that they afford excel- 

 lent and abundant food, valuable medi- 

 cines, besides less important assistance in 

 domestic economy. Their office in the 

 organised world is to check exuberant 

 growth, to facilitate decomposition, to 

 regulate the balance of the component 

 elements of the atmosphere, to promote 

 fertility, and to nourish myriads of the 

 smaller members of the animal kingdom. 

 They occur in every part of the world 

 where the cold is not too intense to de- 

 stroy their spawn, or where there is suffi- 

 cient moisture, though they abound the 

 most in moist temperate regions where the 

 summer is warm. There are but few cer- 

 tain traces of them in antediluvian strata, 

 and those only in the more recent. Most 

 of them, however, are too soft and fugitive 

 to make it likely that they should have 

 been preserved. [M. J. B.] 



FUNGIFORM, FUN'GILLIFORM. Cy- 

 lindrical, having a rounded convex over- 

 hanging extremity. 



FUNGLN'OUS. Of or belonging to a fun- 

 gus. 



FUNICULUS, FUXICLE. The cord or 

 thread which sometimes connects the 

 ovule or seed to the placenta. 



FUXILIFORM. Formed of cord-like 

 fibres. 



FUNKIA. A genus of Liliacece found in 

 China and Japan, having fasciculate roots, 

 the leaves usually all radical, stalked, ovate 

 or cordate, acuminate and plaited, the cau- 



line ones.when present, sessile. The flowers 

 grow in racemes and are blue or white, 

 with a tubular six-parted perianth, and the 

 style and stamens bent down. The seeds 

 have a black membranous coat, produced 

 into a wing at the apex. A few species are 

 known, and they are mostly introduced to 

 our gardens. [J. T. S.] 



FUNNEL-SHAPED. A calyx or corolla, 

 or other organ, in which the tube is obconi- 

 cal, gradually enlarging upwards into the 

 limb, so that the whole resembles a funnel, 

 as in the Convolvulus. 



FURBIURNE. An Arab name for Exi- 

 phorbia officinavum. 



FURCATE. Having long terminal lobes, 

 like the prongs of a fork, as Ophioglossum 

 'pendulum. 



FURCELLARIA. A genus of rose- 

 spored Algce belonging to the natural 

 order of Cryptonemiacea?, with a forked 

 cylindrical fastigiate frond, having the 

 capsules lodged in the pod-like branches. 

 F.fastigiata, the only known species, which 

 is widely distributed in the Northern At- 

 lantic, is one of the commonest sea-weeds 

 on our coast. It is so like Poh/ides rotundus 

 that it is very difficult to distinguish them 

 except when in fruit ; the sponge-like 

 masses in which the capsules of Polyides 

 are immersed, afford, however, a marked 

 distinction. [M. J. B.j 



FURFURACEOUS. Scurfy ; covered 

 with soft scales, which are easily dis- 

 placed. 



FURROWED. Marked by longitudinal 

 channels, as the stem of the parsnep. 



FURZE. The gorse or whin, Vlex euro- 

 pceus. 



FUSAIN. (Fr.) Euonymus europceus. 



FUSANUS. A genus of sandalworts, 

 having flowers of mixed character, some 

 being perfect, having stamens and pistils ; 

 others with stamens or with pistils only. 

 The border of the calyx is deeply divided 

 into four pieces, which spread horizon- 

 tally like the spokes of a wheel, but ulti- 

 mately fall off; the stamens are four in 

 number. The species are small trees or 

 shrubs, natives of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and of the southern parts of New Holland. 

 Dr. Lindley states that ' the fruit of the 

 Quandanp: nut (F. acuminatus) is as sweet 

 and useful to the New-Hollanders as al- 

 monds are to us.' [G. D.] 



FUSARIUM. A genus of moulds closely 

 resembling Fusisporiuvi, but consisting of 

 Fungi which burst forth from beneath the 

 cuticle of the plants on which they grow, 

 in little gelatinous spots. F. Tteterosporium 

 has affected rye in the south of England 

 during hot seasons, and F. Mori, a species 

 first described by Leveille, is the pest of 

 the white mulberry crops cultivated for 

 silkworms, forming on the leaves brown 

 gelatinous specks which exhaust their nu- 

 tritive qualities. The other species are of 



