256 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
then separated under new generic names did not meet with any 
general acceptation. When Professor De No tar is subsequently 
propounded a scheme for the rectification of the classification of 
the Discomycetes, it scarcely met with consideration. The 
spirit of the age had not yet set in in the direction of change. It 
would he scarcely necessary to allude to subsequent works, or 
just to charge upon anyone or two individuals the questionable 
honour of splitting up the genus ; especially when this one has 
been selected, not as an isolated instance, but as a type of many 
others. Without attempting to enumerate the genera which 
have been proposed to occupy the place formerly held by 
Peziza , one work may be taken as a type of others : it is the 
Flora of a Duchy of G-ermany, and in this the species of 
Peziza are distributed over no less than thirty-six genera, for 
thirty-five of which the interests of science made no demand 
whatever. It may unhesitatingly be pronounced that the whole 
of these thirty-five genera are based upon insufficient characters, 
and that their only merit is to exercise the memory and intro- 
duce unnecessary confusion. Another objection might be urged 
against them, that they are not constructed on any one principle. 
Here two or three genera are based on the presence or absence 
of a stem, there on the globose sporidia. In one instance the 
characteristic feature of the genus is the presence of a sclero- 
tioid base to the stem, in another the thick sulcate stem, and in 
another the urceolate form of the cup. If such features are to 
be considered as sufficient, then nearly every species might be 
regarded as the type of a new genus. Surely if it is sound to 
construct a genus for stipitate species with globose sporidia, 
it must be equally sound to construct another for sessile species 
with globose sporidia, another for stipitate species with elliptical 
sporidia, another for sessile species with elliptical sporidia, and 
thus through the whole range of the forms of sporidia. Such 
a method, however unnecessary it might be, and liable to other 
objections, would still be consistent. In the case of other genera, 
such as Sphoeria , the main features of the new genera are the 
form, colour, and septation of the sporidia, so that at least the 
method has more of uniformity. 
It would be almost universally admitted that the genus Peziza , 
as limited by Fries, was one of the most natural in the whole 
range of fungi. It may be cited as evidence of this that stu- 
dents and persons little acquainted with fungi seldom erred in 
referring each species to the proper genus. The main features of 
a fleshy cup with a smooth disc commended itself at once ; 
and although there might be a thousand species, the whole ar- 
rangement was characterised by simplicity, and fulfilled all the 
requirements of classification ; surely nothing more was requisite. 
It is quite immaterial whether a genus contains one species or 
