150 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



the Areas of "Tay" and "Dee," and are not rare up to 1,500 

 feet; but that he is not aware of the apothecia having been 

 detected in Britain. In Massee's British Fungus Flora, iv. 499, 

 published in 1895, reference is made to Professor Trail's discovery 

 of berries containing sclerotia, and it is stated that mature 

 ascophores have not yet been recorded for this country. Abortive 

 fruits of V. Myrtillus, exactly similar to those described by 

 Professor Trail and Mr. Massee, appear to be not uncommon in 

 the West of Scotland, and I have frequently observed thorn in 

 the more hilly portions of the Ayrshire parishes of West 

 Kilbride. Largs, Dairy, and Kilbirnie, where the blaeberry 

 abounds. As producing " sclerotium in berries of Vaccinium 

 Myrtillus" this species is recorded for West Kilbride in the List 

 of the Microfungi of the Clyde Area, prepared by me in connec- 

 tion with the visit of the British Association to Glasgow in 1901.* 



In its early or conidial form, S. baccarum is said to attack the 

 young living branches of V. Myrtillus, and to be found on the 

 concave side of curved shoots, where it appears as a white bloom 

 or mould consisting of simple or branched chains of hyaline 

 subglobose conidia, which much resemble those of Oidium or 

 Monilia, two genera of Hyphomycetes. The mycelium finally 

 affects the young berries, and forms within them " sclerotia," or 

 densely compacted masses of hyphse. The abortive fruits may 

 be readily recognised by their peculiar appearance and colour, 

 already referred to. After these have dropped to the ground, 

 and undergone a period of rest, the smooth brown stipitate 

 ascophores are developed from the sclerotia. It is said that as a 

 rule only four of the eight spores contained in each ascus become 

 fully developed, and the other four remain much smaller in size. 

 For description and measurements of the ascophores. asci. spores, 

 &c, reference may be made to Massee's British Fungus Flora, 

 already cited, and to his Text-book of Plant Diseases caused by 

 Cryptogamic Parasites (1899), 381. 



At the Society's Excursion to Campsie Glen, Stirlingshire, on 

 9th instant, I was so fortunate as to discover several fully- 

 developed specimens of the ascophores of S. baccarum. They 



* Handbook on the Natural History of Glasgow and the West of 

 Scotland (1901), 07. 



