An attempt was made to show that, in Agaricus melleus, distinct asci were found, in a certain stage, on the gills or lamellæ. We have in vain examined the gills in various conditions, and could never detect anything of the kind. It is probable that the asci belonged to some species of Hypomyces, a genus of parasitic Sphæriaceous fungi.
It is not intended that the spores are always quaternate in Agaricini, though that number is constant in the more typical species. They sometimes exceed four, and are sometimes reduced to one.
The species long known as Hydnum gelatinosum was examined by Mr. F. Currey in 1860 (Journ. Linn. Soc.), and he came to the conclusion that it was not a good Hydnum. Since then it has been made the type of a new genus (Hydnoglœa B. and Br. or, as called by Fries, in the new edition of “Epicrisis,” Tremellodon, Pers. Myc. Eur.), and transferred to the Tremellini. Currey says, upon examining the fructification, he was surprised to find that, although in its external characters it was a perfect Hydnum, it bore the fruit of a Tremella. If one of the teeth be examined with the microscope, it will be seen to consist of threads bearing four-lobed sporophores, and spores exactly similar to Tremella. It will thus be seen, he adds, that the plant is exactly intermediate between Hydnei and Tremellini, forming, as it were, a stepping-stone from one to the other.
Tulasne, L. R. and C., “Observations on the Organization of the Tremellini,” in “Ann. des Sci. Nat.” 3me sér. xix. (1853), pp. 193, &c.
M. Léveillé, in “Ann. des Sci. Nat.” 2me sér. viii. p. 328; 3me sér. ix. p. 127; also Bonorden, “Handbuch der Mycologie,” p. 151.