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which follows, consisting of those Moulds which bear naked
fruit, and arc knoivn under the name of Hyphomycetes, from
their filamentous character. The Blue-mould of cheese and
paste, and the common species which run over preserves and
other stores arc familiar examples. Some are so bright in
colour and form such compact masses that they readily attract
notice; but there are few, if any, which do not require
the use of the microscope, even for the accurate examination
of their outward forms. Some of these Moulds, again, are
mere conditions of other Fungi. Though difficult of examination,
they amply repay investigation. They are divided into
five groups, Isariei, Stilbacei, Dematiei, Mucedines, and Sepe-
doniei, of which it is not easy to give popular examples. The
first two contain species in which the threads of which the
plants are composed are closely compacted, so as in some cases
to make them resemble the Clavate Fungi mentioned above
(p. 9). The red Fungus, so common in gardens on dead
currant-branches, forming little scarlet, cushion-like masses,
is a good example of the second.* The species of the third
division consist of loose threads, which are mostly dark, as if
carbonized; while the white or purer coloured Moulds constitute
the fourth. The typical genus of the last subdivision,
Sepedonium, is familiar to many, from its transforming the
Boleti of our woods into a bright-yellow spongy mass.
This terminates the first series of Fungi, consisting of four
divisions, in which the fructifying bodies are naked and exposed.
There are, however, other plants included in the term,
which differ greatly in structure, but many of -which are readily
recognized by the common observer as true Fungi, while others
are as minute and obscure as the black specks noticed before.
At present we are looking principally to outward characters. I t
* This, however, is probably merely a state o f Nectria cinnaharina.
is necessary however to remark, that these productions, instead
of naked spores, have fructifying bodies [sporidia) enclosed in
sacs [asci or sporangia). (Plate 1, fig. 2.)
Ill those Fungi of the second series which have asci, the
receptacle which bears the fructifying stratum, whether exposed
or concealed from view, is more or less complicated in structure,
while in those which have sporangia, it is loosely filamentous,
as in Mucedines. In a few instances however the
sporangia themselves are cellular; but in suoh eases the true
nature of the productions is often somewhat doubtful. On
these grounds we have two primary divisions,—Ascomycetes
and Physomycetes, whose names are indicative of their distinct
characters of ascus-hearing and sporangium-hearing Fungi.
The first group, of Ascomycetes, which meets us, is that which
is best know'n, as it includes such productions as the Morel,
and the large Pezizm (Plate 22, fig. 4, 5, 6), or cup-shaped
Fungi, which attract admiration from their form and colours.
The scarlet Peziza, common in some districts on sticks, the
orange Peziza of wood, the vesicular Peziza of hot-beds, are
all well-known examples, and there are many others of variable
size and beauty which will reward researches in our
w'oods. One of the most curious, Peziza venosa (Plate 22,
fig. 6), is a common inhabitant of the naked soil in ivoods or
gardens in spring, some inches in breadth, and remarkable for
its wrinkled hymenium and nitrous odour. The leading species
of the group are mitre-shaped or club-shaped; but the
hymenium, and the receptacle on which it is spread, by various
gradations, at length form a perfect cup, which in the
higher species is borne upon a stem, but in others is perfectly
sessile or expanded, in which case it resembles closely those
Fungi of the Gill-bearing division, which present a smooth,
even hymenium [Auricularini). These Fungi are called collecc