86 MORPHOLOGY 
(c) Auriculariales 
These are the ear fungi, appearing as gelatinous, earlike growths on bark, 
board fences, etc., a very common form being seen on old stems of elder. When 
moist, the ear is gelatinous and brightly colored ; when dry, it becomes hard and 
gray and wrinkled, and externally hairy. This ear is a complex sporophore aris- 
ing from a mycelium, its internal surface being lined with a hymenium. A section 
of the hymenium shows basidia transversely divided into four cells, each cell giv- 
ing rise to a slender branch (sterigma) which produces a basidiospore. This 
basidium so much resembles that of the Uredinales (the promycelium) that the 
ear fungi are sometimes grouped with them ; but the complex sporophore is dis- 
tinctly like that of the fleshy fungi. 
(d) Tremellales 
These fungi also appear as gelatinous growths on decaying wood and tree trunks, 
these growths being complex and more or less indefinite sporophores from a myce- 
lium. When moist, they appear usually as thick, wavy, or folded coatings of 
quivering gelatinous consistency and indefinite form. The wavy ridges are coated 
with a hymenial layer, and the basidia are peculiar in being divided longitudi- 
nally into four cells, each cell terminating in a long, slender filament (sterigma) 
bearing a basidiospore. 
II. AUTOBASIDIOMYCETES 
These are the true Basidiomycetes, the basidium being one-celled, 
and they constitute the large assemblage of forms known as the fleshy 
fungi. Two great subgroups are recognized: (I) Hymenomycetes, in 
which the hymenium is exposed; and (II) Gasteromycetes , in which the 
hymenium is inclosed. 
i. Hymenomyceles 
(e) Dacromycetales 
These forms are interesting on account of their evident relationship to the Tre- 
mellales, which they resemble in their gelatinous sporophores. The one-celled 
basidium forks into two long sterigmata, and hence produces two basidiospores. 
It has been discovered that the nuclear fusion in the basidium is followed by two 
successive divisions, resulting in four nuclei, as in all basidia. In spore forma- 
tion two nuclei remain in the basidium, or the two nuclei may move in pairs into 
the sterigmata, one of each pair entering the terminal spore. 
(f) Exobasidiales 
This group of parasites attacks, among other hosts, members of the heath family, 
as huckleberries, cranberries, etc., the tips of the shoots, buds, flowers, or young o va- 
ries of the host becoming enlarged and distorted into gall-like growths. These 
affected parts finally become covered with a whitish bloom, made by the basidia 
