LYMAN: STUDIES OF HYMENOMYCETES. 
199 
tinction of internal and external parts, and on germination produce 
vegetative mycelia. They may properly be regarded as reproductive 
bodies. But most distinctive of all is the definite origin of the bulbil 
from a single hyplia, a characteristic not possessed by the sclerotium. 
Still it must be understood that both bulbil and sclerotium are varia¬ 
tions of the same type of structure, which is the compacting into a 
resistant, dormant mass of a group of vegetative cells or hyphae, which 
are capable of resuming activity after a period of repose. 
The discovery of these bulbils may indicate that this is not a rare 
method of reproduction among Hymenomycetes; the small size of the 
bulbils and the absence of any massing into a conspicuous fructifica¬ 
tion accounts for their non-discovery in the field. Bulbil formation 
would appear to be a very valuable means of propagation, for bulbils 
combine much of the portability of spores with the power of sclerotia 
and rhizomorphae to resist unfavorable conditions. 
Conidia. — From the author’s studies it appears that well differen¬ 
tiated conidia are not common among the Hymenomycetes, although 
they exist in a number of species, and in much greater variety than 
was previously supposed. 
Conidia were found in five species and they are of five distinct 
types; in Lentodium squamulosum the conidia are borne upon the 
basidiosporic fructification, in Peniophora Candida they have a definite 
sporodochium or fruit body of their own, while in the three species of 
Corticium they are borne upon the mycelium in different ways: the 
conidia of Corticium alutaceum are small and somewhat resemble 
oidia; those of Corticium roseo-pallens closely resemble the basidio- 
spores, and are produced successively in nearly sessile tufts upon the 
hyphae; while the Oedocephalum-like conidia of Corticium efjuscatum 
are quite unlike the basidiospores but strikingly resemble the conidia 
found by Brefeld in Polyporus annosus. 
Furthermore it appears that of the five conidia-bearing species 
studied,— Lentodium squamulosum, Peniophora Candida, Corticium 
alutaceum, Corticium roseo-pallens, and Corticium efjuscatum, — four 
belong to the Thelephoraceae, three being members of the genus 
Corticium, and one of the nearly related genus Peniophora. This 
circumstance is partially explained by the fact that the majority of the 
species studied belong to Corticium and nearly related genera of the 
Thelephoraceae. However, a sufficient number of species of Hydna- 
ceae and Polyporaceae was studied to warrant the statement that 
