Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
September,  1894.  / 
Fungi. 
425 
rye — ergot — has  been  known  for  many  years.  The  sphacelial  stage 
of  development  was  not  known  until  1841,  when  Meyen  pointed 
this  out.  Literature  to-day  is  filled  with  the  results  of  different 
workers  who  have  struggled  with  the  separation  of  the  constituents 
of  ergot.  The  "  rusts "  have  received  careful  attention  by  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  and  now,  very  recently,  have  been  issued 
by  the  Government  Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C,  four  import- 
ant pamphlets  on  the  twenty-four  edible  and  twelve  poisonous 
mushrooms  of  the  United  States,  with  directions  for  their  identifica- 
tion and  preparation  as  food.  This  is  the  work  of  Thomas  Taylor, 
Chief  of  the  Division  of  Microscopy,  and  the  pamphlets  in  their 
timely  appearance  reflect  great  credit  to  the  department.  At  this 
time,  when  the  fungi  are  so  abundant  in  our  damp  woods,  we  desire 
to  call  attention  to  a  scientific  and  convenient  classification  of  the 
fungi  of  the  Carposporeae  and  to  the  recent  developments  in  the 
physiology  and  chemistry  of  the  same. 
Group. 
I.  Basidiomycetes: 
produce  basidia  contain- 
ing basidiospores. 
CARPOSPORE^. 
Sub-Group. 
(1)  Gasteromycetes — spores  produced  in  closed 
cavities  ;  e.  g.,  bovista,  phallus. 
(2)  Hymenomycetes,  spores  not  produced  in 
closed  cavities  ;  e.  g.,  hydnum,  polyporus. 
(3)  Tremellinece,  jelly-like  mass;  fruit  scattered 
on  the  surface  ;  e.  g. ,  tremelline. 
(1)  Discomycetes,    fruit  a  cup-shaped  body— 
apothecium  ;  e.  g.,  morchellus,  peziza. 
II.  Ascomycetes :  (2)  Pyrenomycetes,    fruit  body — perithecium — 
produce  an  asci  in  which  -J  of  various  shapes  but  nearly  closed,  so  that  spores 
ascopores  are  contained.  I  are  inside  ;  e.  g.,  claviceps. 
(3)  Perisporeacece,   fruit  body  remains  closed 
until  it  decays  ;  e.  g.,  erysiphe. 
I.  Basidiomycetes  are  saprophytes  consisting  of  a  mycelium  and 
sporocarp.  The  basidia  are  arranged  usually  to  form  a  hymenium. 
According  as  this  is  external  or  internal,  the  two  important  divisions 
are  made. 
Hymenomycetes,  hymenium  is  external. 
Gasteromycetes,  hymenium  is  internal. 
The  sexual  organs  are  supposed  to  precede  the  formation  of  a 
sporocarp. 
(1)  Gasteromycetes  produce  a  mycelium  that  penetrates  decaying 
