XIV 
INTRODUCTION. 
embodying the latest views on this subject, although we still 
venture to think that it is not the best, or, at any rate, that it 
is still in a transition state. We are old-fashioned enough to 
believe that for purposes of classification, features should be 
taken which are present and evident in the specimens them- 
selves, and are not dependent upon any of the phenomena 
of their life history, which cannot be represented in the 
herbarium. 
Imperfect Fungi are those which are either known, or 
assumed to be genetically related to other fungi, and therefore 
not autonomous. These naturally follow the more perfect 
groups, and hence the Sphoeropsidece and the Hypliomycetes, or 
moulds, bring the acknowledged Fungi to a close. We have 
written the words “ acknowledged fungi ” advisedly, because 
there are some who will not acknowledge the Myxomycetes as 
true fungi, and we do not wish to wound their susceptibilities. 
The Myxomycetes are arranged according to the latest “ Mono- 
graph,” by Mr. G. Massee, and consequently are not in accord- 
ance with the “Sylloge,” at least as far as the sequence of 
genera is concerned. That they should be classed with fungi 
is still our own conviction, but the peculiarities of their vegeta- 
tive stage separate them from all other groups. In their 
reproductive stage their affinities are undoubtedly with fungi, 
with some resemblance to the Qasteromycetes, but they can no 
longer be intimately associated with that order, as was formerly 
believed. 
For the benefit of those who are unacquainted with the 
principal features of the different groups which find a place in 
this volume, and to facilitate them in its use, it may be per- 
mitted here to diverge into a brief explanation. The Basi- 
diomycetes include by far the largest number of Australian 
fungi, and their chief distinction is that the spores, which are 
analogous to seeds in the higher plants, are borne on the apices 
of certain supporting bodies termed basidic . In typical forms 
these basidia are more or less club-shaped, surmounted by four 
minute points, or spore-bearers, called steriymata, each of which 
carries a spore. The basidia packed closely together side by 
side, and often intermixed with other stei’ile processes, termed 
cystidia, constitute the spore-bearing surface or hymenium. 
In the Hymenomycetes this hymenium is exposed, but in the 
Gasteromycetes the hymenium is enclosed in an outer covering, 
or peridium. The two groups known respectively as tho 
Hymenomycetes and the Gasteromycetes constitute together the 
Basidiomycetes. In the Hymenomycetes the hymenium is dis- 
posed in various ways. For instance, in the Agaricini, to 
which tho mushroom belongs, the hymenium is inferior, or on 
the under surface of the cap or pi lens, and forms a delicate 
membrane, which is folded in pleats or folds, like a fan, 
radiating from the stem to the edge of the pileus. These folds. 
