e spores and transfer them from place to place, so that even
amongst fungi insects aid in the dissemination of species. Whether or
not the _Myxogastres_ should be included here is matter of opinion,
since the mode in which the spores are developed is but little known;
analogy with the _Trichogastres_ in other points alone leading to the
conclusion that they may produce basidiospores. The slender, elastic
stems which support the peridia in many species are undoubted aids to
the dissemination of the spores.[B]

[Illustration: FIG. 48.--_Diachea elegans._]

Under the name of STYLOSPORES may be classed those spores which in some
orders of _Coniomycetes_ are produced at the apex of short threads,
either enclosed in a perithecium, or seated upon a kind of stroma.
These are exceedingly variable, sometimes large, and multiseptate, at
other times minute, resembling spermatia. In such genera as are
chiefly epiphytal, in _Septoria_, _Phyllosticta_, and their allies,
the minute spores are enclosed within membranaceous perithecia, and
when mature these are ejected from the orifice at the apex, or are
exposed by the breaking off of the upper portion of the perithecia. In
_Diplodia_ and _Hendersonia_ the spores are larger, mostly coloured,
often very fine in the latter genus, and multiseptate, escaping from
the perithecia by a terminal pore. Probably the species are only
pycnidia of _Sphaeriacei_, but that is of no consequence in relation
to our present inquiry. Of stylospores which deserve mention on account
of their singularity of form, we may note those of _Dilophospora
graminis_, which are straight, and have two or three hair-like
appendages at each extremity. In _Discosia_ there is a single oblique
bristle at each end, or at the side of the septate spores, whilst in
_Neottiospora_ a tuft of delicate hairs is found at one extremity
only. The appendages in _Dinemasporium_ are similar to those of
_Discosia_. The spores in _Prosthemium_ may be said in some sort to
resemble compound _Hendersonia_, being fusiform and multiseptate, often
united at the base in a stellate manner. In this genus, as in
_Darluca_, _Cytispora_, and the most of those belonging to the
_Melanconiei_, the spores when mature are expelled from the orifice of
the perithecium or spurious perithecium, either in the form of
tendrils, or in a pasty mass. In these instances the spores are more
or less involved in gelatine, and when expelled lie spread over the
matrix,