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Division II (Clavati Scarcely any traces)

Clavati. Scarcely any traces of these fungi can be discovered in the writings of the ancients. Clusius described a few. Tournefort confounded them with corals and Lycoperdons. Holmskioid and Holmskiold and Persoon are the principal modern writers upon this tribe. Almost all the species of which there is any certain knowledge are European. The genuine kinds are terrestrial; those which are found upon wood, being transitious to other orders. In vaults or caverns they become unusually developed, and the asci, on account of the excessive supply of moisture, expand and become flocculent. Most are found in the autumn; the branched kinds are often what are termed meteoric, that is to say, spring up suddenly after heavy falls of rain. They seldom last more than fourteen days. In qualities they are mild, some having a bitter taste, but the greatest number are almost entirely destitute of smell, color, or taste. Many of the large kinds are used in cookery, and are eaten by various herbivorous animals.

Class II. Uterini. The natural form of the receptacle is cupulate, but in the most perfect kinds, the cupula is reflexed, and is called a mitra; in the least perfect, which are innate in the matrix, the receptacle is almost wholly obliterated. The resupinate Pileati are distinguished from these by their immarginate form, and by their asci.

Division I. Mitrati. A small division, apparently wholly unknown to the ancients. The species are almost entirely European; a few are found in North America and Siberia. It is probable, however, from the evidence of Loureiro and others, that some peculiar genera and species exist within the tropics. They are generally fond of a humid shady station. None are found in subterraneous places. If an individual is occasionally produced upon wood, it is upon such as is wholly decayed. Many spring up in the autumn and spring; they are rarely meteoric, but some appear in greater abundance in one kind of season than in another. Most of them last for a fortnight, and retain their form when dry. Their qualities are generally mild, nutritive, and juiceless; one is said to be bitter. They are little infested by larvæ. Several are used as food.