BOTANY. 59 
united in club-shaped expansions or receptacles, situated at the end or 
margins of the fronds. In germinating, the nucleus bursts the epispore or 
outer covering of the spore, and sends out filamentous processes. Pl. 54, fig. 
36, Laminaria digitata; fig. 387, L. saccharina with cellular tissue and fruit. 
Fucus vesiculosus (fig. 38). 
Sub-order 5. Characee: water plants formed of parallel tubes, which are 
sometimes incrusted with carbonate of lime; reproductive organs are of 
two kinds: a, a round red globule consisting of eight valves which inclose 
cells of different kinds, containing granular matter and peculiar spiral fila- 
ments or phytozoa; b, an oval nucule formed by a large central cell or 
spore, with five elongated cells wound spirally round it, surmounted by five 
teeth. Some consider the globule as an antheridium, and as equivalent to an 
anther. ; 
OrveR 2. Funes, the Mushroom Family. The plants belonging to this 
order consist of cells, sometimes round, sometimes elongated, in the form of 
filaments, either placed closely together, or separated. They are variable 
in their consistence, being soft or hard, fibrous or gelatinous, fleshy or 
leathery. They never contain green gonidia, like Lichens, and they rarely 
grow in water. ‘There exists a vegetative system, called spawn or my- 
celium, formed of elongated, simple, or articulated filaments, concealed 
within the matrix, or expanded over its ‘surface, from which varied forms 
of fructification proceed. The mycelium occurs either in a filamentous, a 
membranous, a tubercular, or a pulpy form. The reproductive organs con- 
sist of spores or spherical cells (usually four, or some multiple of four), 
which are either attached to the cellular tissue, and supported often on 
simple or branched filamentous processes, called sporophores or basidia; or 
are contained in thece, cystidia, or asci, accompanied by bodies called 
antheridia, or paraphyses; in the latter case the term sporidia is sometimes 
applied to the spores. The sporophores sometimes end in delicate cells, bear- 
ing the spores, and called sterigmata. In the Agarics, or Mushrooms, 
which are among the best known fungi, there is observed first a roundish 
protuberance on the mycelium. This swelling is called the volva, or wrap- 
per, and it gradually enlarges, containing in its imterior what appears 
afterwards as the agaric, with its reproductive bodies. When the volva is 
ruptured the fully-formed agaric is seen, consisting of an upper rounded 
portion, called the pileus, or cap, supported on a stalk or stipes. On its 
under surface is situated the hymenium, or the part where the spores are 
produced, covered at first by a thin membrane, called a veil (indusium or 
velum), which is ultimately ruptured; and when the rupture takes place at 
the edge of the pileus, an annulus or ring is left on the stipes. The 
hymenium, or the part on which the organs of reproduction are placed, 
consists in the agaric of cellular plates, lamelle, or gills, radiating from the 
centre. In other genera of fungi it consists of tubes or solid columns, or 
fleshy or gelatinous matter. Sometimes the hymenium is on the upper 
surface of the fungus. Cellular plants, often growing on decaying organic 
matter, generally very transient, and presenting various colors, and found in 
all parts of the world. 
59 
