vfrmmmmmm*m -5%aL KJKWwar THE STUDY OF FUNGI INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI THEIR ORGANOGRAPHY, CLASSIFICATION, AND DISTRIBUTION FOR THE USE OF COLLECTORS BY M. C. COOKE, M.A., LL.D., A.L.S. A0THOR OF "FUNGI: THEIR NATURE, USES, ETC"; "HANDBOOK OF BRITISH FUNGI"; " ILLUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH FUNGI " ; "MICROSCOPIC FUNGI " ; "BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI"; "HANDBOOK OF AUSTRALIAN FUNGI," ETC. ETC LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1895 PEEFACE THE Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany, published by Berkeley in 1857, was for a long time the only volume, in English, which could introduce the inquiring student to a systematic knowledge of Fungi. Later on, this work was discovered to be insufficient, inasmuch as it was more suited to the requirements of an advanced student than an inquirer; so that the field was left open for a more popular and ele­ mentary work, which, under the title of Fungi: their Nature, Influence, and Uses, appeared in 1875, subsequently passing through several editions. The rapid advance in knowledge of the life-history and development of these organisms during the past ten years, and especially the large scheme of classification carried out by Professor Saccardo, made it essential that, in order to keep pace with the times, a guide and introduction should be prepared and published for the use of students, which, whilst not superseding the volume of 1875 as a popular instructor, should treat the subject more after the manner of a text-book, adapted to the illustration of recent discoveries, and an explanation of the methods of classification. The following pages are the result of an effort to supply an acknow­ ledged want, which I have executed under the impression that it is probably my last contribution of any importance to British Mycology. For many of the illustrations the publishers and myself duly acknowledge the kindness with which they have been placed at our disposal by the publishers of the works from INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI whence they are taken. A large number of the woodcuts will be recognised as formerly belonging to my Handbook of British Fungi, the use of which has now been granted by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. We are also under obligations to the publishing committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to the proprietors of the Gardeners Chronicle, to Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co., Messrs. Macmillan and Co., and Messrs. Chatto and Windus; for which they will please accept our acknowledg­ ments. Beyond this brief prelude I need not advance, as, under any circumstances, readers would prefer taking their evidence from the chapters which follow than from any professions or explanations in a preface. To the student who seeks for assistance I have offered all that I had to give, in the hope that it will be found sufficient for his need. M. C. COOKE. LONDON, 1895. CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION PART I ORGANOGRAPHY CHAPTER II THE MYCELIUM CHAPTER III THE CARPOPHORE CHAPTER IV THE RECEPTACLE CHAPTER V THE FRUCTIFICATION CHAPTER VI FERTILISATION INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI CHAPTER VII PAGE DlCHOCARPISM ^4 CHAPTER VIII SAPROPHYTES AND PARASITES '° CHAPTER IX CONSTITUENTS 84. PART II CLASSIFICATION CHAPTER X FUNGI IN GENERAL 95 CHAPTER XI NAKED -SPORED FUNGI—BASIDIOMYCETES 119 CHAPTER XII H YMENOMYCETES 126 CHAPTER XIII PUFF-BALL FUNGI—GASTROMYCETES 149 CHAPTER XIV ASCIGEROUS FUNGI—ASCOMYCETES 1G4 CHAPTER XV DISCOID FUNGI—DISCOMYCETES 173 CONTENTS IX CHAPTER XVI PAliE SUBTERRANEAN FUNGI—TUBERACEAE 189 CHAPTER XVII CAPSULAR FUNGI—PYRENOMYCETES 197 CHAPTER XVIII GAPING FUNGI—HYSTERIACEAE 222 CHAPTER XIX CONJUGATING FUNGI—PHYCOMYCETES 227 CHAPTER XX RUST FUNGI—UREDINEAE 242 CHAPTER XXI SMUT FUNGI—USTILAGINES 251 CHAPTER XXII IMPERFECT CAPSULAR FUNGI—SPHAEROPSIDEAE 259 CHAPTER XXIII MOULDS—HYPHOMYCETES '2 7 7 CHAPTER XXIV MICROBES—SCHIZOMYCETES AND SACCHAROMYCETES 290 CHAPTER XXV SLIME FUNGI—MYXOMYCETES 304 x INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI PART III DISTRIBUTION CHAPTER XXVI PAGE CENSUS OF FUNGI 319 CHAPTER XXVII GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 324 CHAPTER XXVIII APPENDIX ON COLLECTING 345 s GLOSSARY 353 INDEX 358 CHAPTER I LNTKODUCTTON THE student will expect to find in an Introduction to the study of any subject some definition and delimitation of that subject —a task difficult in all cases to accomplish with brevity, and within the compass of a technical description, but one of in­ creased difficulty when the subject is so extensive and com­ plicated as Fungi. In past times definitions have been hazarded which appeared at the time to be incontestable and complete, but within a short period they became insufficient. That they ' are plants of a low organisation must be conceded, and also that they belong to the lowest section, or the Cryptogamia, in which the reproductive organs are more or less concealed ; but the old characteristics of Algae as cellular plants subsisting in water; of Lichens as subsisting in air, and not upon the matrix on which they flourish; and, finally, of Fungi, which derived their sustenance from the matrix, have had to be discarded as in­ sufficient. It is now known that aquatic Fungi are not an impossibility, that Algae may grow in a damp atmosphere, and that some portion of the substance of Lichens may be derived from their matrix. Seeing the difficulty of obtaining positive characters, negative ones have been tried; but these again have failed to give satisfaction. In one of the most recent works which has attempted to deal with this difficulty we meet with the following as one of the " leading characters." It is to the effect that " Chlorophyll, the green colouring matter so general in the vegetable kingdom, is entirely absent from fungi." * Admitting this to be true, may it not be maintained that there 1 Massee, British Fungi (1891), p. 1. 1 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI are probably some lichens or some algae in which true chloro­ phyll is not present ? But speaking of them as a whole, we are justified in saying of Fungi that they are " cryptogams without chlorophyll," and in this we shall embody the most important characters of the group "—a general definition which may be accepted without reservation. Except for one or two small families, we could add also " without determinate sexuality." Previous to this, Berkeley had pointed out that the definition was imperfect which described Fungi as " deriving nourishment by means of a mycelium from the matrix, and never producing from their component threads green bodies resembling chlorophyll," 1 for, he goes on to observe, " it is true that a few Algae, such as Botrydium, do probably imbibe some­ thing from the soil by means of their rootlets, which can scarcely be mere holdfasts "; and again, " When we examine Fungi more closely, we shall have reason to believe that there are exceptions here also as to their deriving nutriment from their matrix. I have, for instance, found a Cyphella on the hardest gravel stones, where the fine mycelioid threads, by which it was attached, could not possibly derive any nutriment except from matters conveyed to it by the air or falling moisture." To the latter portion of the paragraph, giving the negative character of the absence of chlorophyll, Berkeley, however, gives his adhesion. A logical definition, therefore, so commonly fails, that we shall excuse ourselves from attempting a new one, simply indicating a few points to be borne in mind whilst perusing the following pages, from whence alone a general idea can be obtained of such a polymorphous group. Lindley divided all the Cryptogamic plants into two sections, the Acrogens, growing at the summit, including the Ferns, Mosses, and their allies, and the Thallogens, which embraced Algae, Fungi, and Lichens. Hence we conclude that Fungi are not only Cryptogams, but of that section in which there is no true root or distinct stem with foliaceous appendages. Although the Rev. M. J. Berkeley was, in the main, responsible for Lindley's classification of the Cryptogams, it is out of date and inapplicable in the present 1 Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany, p. 235. INTRODUCTION 3 day, when other and improved methods have been brought into use. Instead of the term Thallogens for the cellular Crypto- gamia, it would be preferable to call them Thallophytes, and, for the rest, Bryophytes would include Mosses and their allies, whilst Pteridophytes would be represented by the Ferns. Thallophytes, in a general sense, which will be sufficient for practical purposes, consist of those plants which grow in water, and obtain their sustenance therefrom, commonly known as Algae; and those which flourish in the air, being sustained by the decomposition of the matrix on which they flourish, as Fungi; or drawing their sustenance from the air, and rarely, or but slightly, from the matrix, as in Lichens. Here again a negative feature may be interposed with advantage, to the effect that Lichens are not of a fleshy or putrescent, but of a dry and leathery consistence, whereas in the bulk of Fungi the substance is, either entirely or in the early stage, soft and fleshy, becoming indurated or putrescent with age. The distinctions between Algae and Fungi will never cause any practical difficulty, because the Saprolegnieae, which are aquatic, and approach Algae most nearly in habit, derive their sustenance from the matrix on which they are parasitic by means of penetrating mycelial threads, whereas Algae are simply attached by root-like or sucker-like extensions to the matrix, from which nothing is absorbed. The relations between Fungi and Lichens are much more intimate, and in extreme cases approach each other so closely as to be distinguished with difficulty even by experts. Whole genera are still claimed by mycologists on the one hand, and by lichenologists on the other.