FUNGI. 



15 



1. DICHOTOMY AND FASCIATION. 



In these lowly plants there can be only one type of 

 branching, though the changes rung thereon may be 

 numerous, and that is : the dichotomous. Monopoclial 

 branching rarely obtains in the lower Cryptogams. 



Dichotomy. 



The simplest case of this phenomenon is seen where 

 the stipe or "stem" bifurcates into two equal arms, 



Fig-. 1. — Phallus impudicus. Imper- 

 fect double forking of the apex of 

 the stipe. (After Rolland.) 



Fig. 2. — Mycsena galericulata. 



a. Incipient stage of forking. 



b. Normal individual. 



involving at the same time a similar division of the 

 cap (p ileus). A good instance is afforded by a Phallus 

 impudicus described by Holland ; here the stipe was 

 forked a short way from the apex ; the apical plate of 

 the fruit was divided into tw^o, each of which was again 

 partially forked (fig. 1). 



The writer has seen cases in which, as in the Mycsena 

 figured (fig. 2), a median groove along the stipe was 

 the only indication of incipient forking. In another 

 specimen the separation into two equal divisions of the 

 stipe was more pronounced, while two distinct apical 

 knobs occurred on the cap. 



