essile. In _Geaster_, the "starry puff-balls," the
outer peridium divides into several lobes, which fall back in a
stellate manner, and expose the inner peridium, like a ball in the
centre. In _Polysaccum_, the interior is divided into numerous
cells, filled with secondary peridia. The mode of spore-production
has already been alluded to in our remarks on _Lycoperdon_. All
the species are large, as compared with those of the following
sub-family, and one species of _Lycoperdon_ attains an enormous
size. One specimen recorded in the "Gardener's Chronicle" was
three feet four inches in circumference, and weighed nearly ten
pounds. In the _Myxogastres_, the early stage has been the subject of
much controversy. The gelatinous condition presents phenomena so
unlike anything previously recorded in plants, that one learned
professor[I] did not hesitate to propose their exclusion from the
vegetable, and recognition in the animal, kingdom as associates of
the Gregarines. When mature, the spores and threads so much resemble
those of the _Trichogastres_, and the little plants themselves are
so veritably miniature puff-balls, that the theory of their animal
nature did not meet with a ready acceptance, and is now virtually
abandoned. The characters of the family we have thus briefly reviewed
are tersely stated, as--

_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 the
investing coat or peridium_ = GASTEROMYCETES.

[Illustration: FIG. 38.--_Scleroderma vulgare_, Fr.]

[Illustration: FIG. 39.--_Ceuthospora phacidioides_ (Greville).]

We come now to the second section of the _Sporifera_, in which no
definite hymenium is present. And here we find also two families, in
one of which the dusty spores are the prominent feature, and hence
termed _Coniomycetes_; the other, in which the threads are most
noticeable, is _Hyphomycetes_. In the former of these, the reproductive
system seems to preponderate so much over the vegetative, that the
fungus appears to be all spores. The mycelium is often nearly
obsolete, and the short pedicels so evanescent, that a rusty or sooty
powder represents the mature fungus, infesting the green parts of
living plants. This is more especially true of one or two orders. It
will be most convenient to recognize two artificial sub-families for
the purpose of ill