we have taken of this curious genus. Dr K u n z e places it
along with P e r s o o n among the Byssoidece; and makes the
absence of sporules a part of the generic character. In many
species, they certainly elude the power of our best glasses, yet
in some they are sufficiently visible. I have observed them repeatedly
in E. aureum, and my friend Mr T o z e r informs me
that he has detected them in several others. On these data, I
have ventured to place them among the Gastromyci, where
they will range not very far from the true Mucors, which have
their sporules enclosed in a peridium, while, in other respects,
they have the habit of the Byssoidece.
The genus Erineum has been much increased of la t e :
P e r s o o n , in his Mycologia Europcea, having described 2 7
species, and K u n z e , in his very admirable Monograph, just
published, no fewer than 45. He has treated the subject in
a most elaborate manner, and is remarkably complete in his
references, not only to figures and descriptions, hut to works
where the plant itself is published, and which must hold a
superior rank, in point of real utility, to any graphic illustration.
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Fig. 1. Erineum tortuosum, nat. size. Figs. 2.-4. Filaments more or less magnified.