ro Mas see, — A Monograph of 
Hymenomycetes. In the H y menogastreae the basidia are 
most frequently bisporous, although it is not unusual to meet 
with basidia bearing one, two, or three spores respectively in 
the same hymenium, in addition to the gonidia-form, as in 
Hymenogaster tener . 
In typical basidia the sterigmata or outgrowths which sup- 
port the spores are very slender cylindrical hair-like bodies, 
but in the present group are usually much stouter, and suggest 
the idea, in the bisporous forms, of the basidia being furcate 
at the apex (Figs. I c and 8#). When fully formed, the sterig- 
mata become inflated in a spherical manner at the apex, into 
these inflated terminal portions the protoplasm from the 
basidium passes, after which a transverse septum is always 
formed across the sterigma immediately below the terminal 
inflated portion, the latter eventually becoming differentiated 
into a spore which falls away from its support when ripe. It 
is rather remarkable that the present group, in spite of its 
general low standard of development, should possess, almost 
invariably, such large, coloured, and highly ornamented spores, 
varying in form from spherical to elliptical or lemon-shaped, 
the most usual shape, and furnished with warts, spines, or 
raised lines forming a network of polygonal figures. In 
Melanogaster the spores are comparatively small and smooth 
(Fig. 5 b). The colour varies in different species from very 
pale olive through various shades of brown to almost black 
and opaque. In many species the outer layer of the epi- 
sporium is colourless and loosely invests the spore like a sac, 
which suggests the idea of a single spore contained in an ascus ; 
this peculiar structure is best studied in Hymenogaster tener , 
where the outer hyaline coat is twice the size of the coloured 
spore in its interior (Fig. i a - i c). After the spores have be- 
come free the external hyaline membrane contracts, and 
appears as a thin rugged layer. The spores are invariably 
globose, smooth, and colourless at first, whatever structure 
and colour they may eventually present The hyphae form- 
ing the peripheral portion of the sporophore undergo but little 
differentiation and form the peridium, which is often thickest 
