In the _Perisporiacei_ the perithecium has no proper orifice, or ostiolum, for the discharge of the mature sporidia, which are usually small, and are disseminated by the irregular rupture of the somewhat fragile conceptacles. The asci are usually more or less saccate, and the sporidia approximate to a globose form. The asci are often very diffluent. In _Perisporium vulgare_ the ovate brown sporidia are at first, and for some time, attached together in fours in a concatenate or beaded manner. In some species of _Erysiphei_ the conceptacle encloses but a single sporangium, in others several, which are attached together at the base. In some species the sporangia contain two, in others four, in others eight, and in others numerous sporidia. In _Chætomium_ the asci are cylindrical, and in most cases the coloured sporidia are lemon-shaped. When the conceptacles are fully matured, it is commonly the case that the asci are absorbed and the sporidia are free in the interior of the conceptacles.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--Asci, sporidia, and paraphyses of _Ascobolus_ (Boudier).]
Of the fleshy _Discomycetes_ the genus _Peziza_ may be taken as the type. If the structure which prevails in this genus be brought to mind, it will be remembered that the hymenium lines an expanded cup, and that the asci are packed together, side by side, with their apices outwards, and their bases attached to a substratum of cells which form the inner layer of the receptacle. The sporidia are usually eight in each ascus, either arranged in single or double rows, or irregularly grouped together. The asci are produced in succession; the later, pressing themselves upwards between those previously developed, cause the rupture of the mature asci at the apex and the ejection of the sporidia with considerable force. When a large _Peziza_ is observed for a time a whitish cloud will be seen to rise suddenly from the surface of the disc, which is repeated again and again whenever the specimen is moved. This cloud consists of sporidia ejected simultaneously from several asci. Sometimes the ejected sporidia lie like frost on the surface of the disc. Theories have been devised to account for this sudden extrusion of the sporidia, in _Ascobolus_, and a few species of _Peziza_, of the asci also, the most feasible one being the successive growth of the asci; contraction of the cup may also assist, as well as some other less potent causes. It may be remarked here that the sporidia in _Peziza_ and _Helotium_ are mostly colourless, whilst in _Ascobolus_ they pass through pink to violet, or dark brown, and the epispore, which is of a waxy nature, becomes fissured in a more or less reticulated manner.