228 Massee . — A Monograph of the Geoglosseae. 
types these are, as is usual throughout the Fungi, large and 
coloured, also multiseptate and arranged in a parallel 
fascicle in the ascus— this is the condition of things in Geo- 
glossum ; in Spathularia the spores are of the same type of 
structure, but hyaline or colourless. In Mitrula the spores 
are much smaller, hyaline, having few, or in some species no 
septa, and are arranged in two rows in the ascus. Finally, in 
the monotypic genus Neolecta , from Brazil, the spores are 
minute, globose, hyaline, and arranged in a single row in the 
ascus. In many species the spores are ejected elastically 
at maturity, but are often prevented from being diffused at 
once by the slime present on the hymenium. In the aquatic 
species, Vibrissea truncorum 5 the spores protrude from the 
ascus when mature, and are dispersed by the water. 
No species belonging to the Geoglosseae has, so far as is 
at present known, a conidial form of reproduction. 
All the species are saprophytes, growing on the ground 
or on dead leaves, &c., in damp places, and some few species 
are aquatic. 
Bearing on the vexed question of sexual reproduction in 
the Discomycetes, the researches of Tulasne 1 on Ascobolus 
furfur aceus and Peziza melalofna , Woronin 2 on the structure 
and development of Ascobolus pulcherrimus , and De Bary 3 on 
Peziza (. Pyronema ) confluens^ are well known, as is also the 
refutation of these respective statements by Brefeld 4 , who 
denies the presence of sexual organs of functional value in 
the entire group. Van Tieghem 5 has also brought some 
strong evidence to bear against De Bary’s sexual theory. 
Finally, Dangeard 6 has quite recently discovered what he 
considers to be an undoubted method of sexual reproduction, 
present not only in the Ascomycetes, but in the Fungi generally. 
The constant characteristics of this mode of sexual repro- 
1 Ann. Sci. Nat, Sdr. V, Tom. VI (1866). 
2 Beitr. z. Morphol. und Physiol. , Pilze, Heft II. 
3 Morphol. und Physiol., Pilze, 162-164. 
4 Bot. Unters. iiber Schimmelpilze. 
5 Traite general de Botanique, ed. II, pp. 1132 and 11 66. 
6 Le Botaniste, IV, 21 (1894). 
