TC
Family I I . GASTEEOMYCETES.
Hymenium more or less permanently concealed, consisting in
most cases of closely-packed cells, of which the fertile ones bear
naked spores on distinct spicules, exposed only by the rupture
or decay of tbe investing coat or peridium—DerD Outl.p. 292.
The fructification is essentially produced within the snrrotinding tissues.
A larse portion are remarkable for the drying up of the hymenial tissues to
such L extent that the cavity contains a dusty mass of spores, mixed more
or less with threads, or the shrivelled remains of the constituent tissues,
hut this is not without exception. Some, again, are of a fleshy oon/steuoe
when YOung, while others, in an early stage of growth, rahibit little more
than an apparently inorganised mass of pulpy matter. One or two genera
exhibit beantifnl spiral threads. A few are edible.—Aert. Introd. p . ddd.
Hymenomycetous—
Subterraneous, naked or enclosed . .
Terrestrial. Hymenium deliquescent .
Peridium enclosing sporangia, containing
spores .........................................
Coniospermous— . , .
Cellnlar at first. Hymeninm drying up
into a dusty mass of threads and
sp o re s............................................. ■
Gelatinous at first. Peridium containing
at length a dusty mass of threads
and s p o r e s .........................................
Hy^pogcei.
Phalloidei.
Nidulariacei.
Myxogastres.
Order V II. H T P O G Æ I.
Hymenium permanent, not becoming dusty or deliquescent,
except wben decayed. Subterranean.—Her*. Outl.p. 292.
A n a lo g o u s to T dbbraobi in m an y p a r tic u la r s , e x c ep t tb a t
tb e spores a re not co n ta in ed in asci.
Peridium adhering to creeping, branched fibres, which teaverse its surface—
Cells at first pulpy. Spores sraooth. . . . Melænogaster,
Cells at first empty. Spores smooth . . . Rhizopogon.
Peridium fleshy or thin. Cells at first empty—
Without distinot base. Spores eohinulate . Sydnangmm.
With absorbing base. Spores various . . •
Peridium cottony. Cells at first empty
Spores r o u g h .................................
Peridium separable. Cells at first empty—
Substance cartilagino-glutinons. Spores
m i n u t e .......................................................
Octaviania.
Hysterangmm.
HTPOGÆI.
O C TA V IA N IA , Vitt.
Peridium continuous or cracked, cottony,
running down into tbe sterile base. Trama
byssoid, easily divisible. Fruit-bearing cavities
or cells at first empty. Spores rougb.—
Vitt. T u b .p .15. T u l .H y p .p .n . Berh.Outl.
p. 292. (Dip. 102.)
Fig. 102.
1 0 4 5 . O c ta v ia n ia a ste io sp e rm a .
Cotaviania.”
Vitt. “ Star-spored
Globose, dirty wbite, tben in parts, seruginous-blue and black;
sterile base ratber tbick ; spores spberioal, deep ferruginous,
ecbinate.—Berh. Outl.p. 292. Tul. Hyp. 1.1 1 , / 1. Vitt. Tub. t.
3, f . l . T u l .A n n . S c .N a t .w . t . n , f . 2 l . G o r d a .I c .V i.t.lJ .
64. G o rd a .A n l.t.D .f.4 5 ,n o .5 ,6 .
Underground, adhering by tbe mycelium to twigs, &c. West
of England.
The smell is just like the pungent odour of some Ichneumon or small bee.
Spores (-0004 in.) -0128 mm. (F f - 102, spores.)
1 0 4 6 . O c ta v ia n ia S t e p h e n s ii. Tul. “ Stephens’s Cctaviania.”
Irregular, oblong, externally rufous, plicato-rugose at tbe base,
cribrose, wbite witbin; milky, at length, wben exposed to tbe air,
rufous; spores globose, at length ecbinulate.—Berh. Outl. p. 292.
Tul. H yp. t. 21, / 6. Corda. vi. / . 67. Hydnangium Stephensii,
Berh. Ann. N .H . xiii. p. 352, no. 300.
Underground, or half buried. Aug. Clifton.
About i in. diameter, oblong, attached by a branched fibrous root, smooth,
not cracked, dark rufous, curiously plicate at the base, and cribrose ; withm
white yielding when cut a white milky fluid ; substance when cut and ex-
posed’to the air soon acquiring a red tinge, which is not, however, permit
nent and in yonng specimens vanishes almost entirely in drying, m which
state the hymenium is cream-coloured ; cells minute; spores at first irregularly
globose with a broad rugulose border, somewhat after the fashion oi the
young spores ol Scleroderma, at length echinnlate. This species la remarkable
for its milky juice, smaoth dark peridium, and plicate base. The smell
was slight.-Af. J .B . Spores ‘0096 X -0128 mm. (-00035 X ‘0004 in.) diameter.