H4 The Scottish Naturalist. 



But a greater difficulty meets us in the fact that in many of the 

 fungi the sporules in the same perithecium may be so different as 

 to permit of classing the plants uncjer two, or even three, of the 

 sections, e.g., one frequently finds i-celled and 2-celled sporules 

 together. It is also very difficult to determine into which section 

 many should be put ; since the depth of colour and the presence 

 and number of septa vary with age. There is also every reason to 

 believe that the " species " referred to different "genera " are often 

 really mere stages in the life-history of the same fungus. 



But despite these defects there is no other method of classifica- 

 tion so easy to use as Saccardo's ; and it will probably be more 

 and more widely used for some time to come. Hence it may be 

 hoped that a revision of the Scotch Sphaeropsideae and Melan- 

 COniege based on this system will prove useful to Scotch 

 Mycologists. 



The distribution of these fungi in Scotland is indicated by the 

 districts recognised in Mycologia Scotica, these being : 

 Tweed, Solway, Forth, Clyde, Tay, Argyle, Dee, Moray (south 

 of the Caledonian Canal, denoted in this list by Moray), Moray 

 (north of the Canal, from which we have no information), Boss, 

 Sutherland, Caithness, Outer Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland. From 

 several districts there is absolutely no information concerning 

 these plants, and for most the records are very scanty. By far the 

 fullest lists are those for Tay, Dee, and Moray south of the Canal. 



I have attempted, so far as I could, to give the name of the dis- 

 coverer and of the recorder of each fungus as Scotch, denoting 

 these respectively by D. and R. M., followed by a number, denotes 

 that the species is mentioned in the Mycologia Scotica pub 

 lished in 1879 \ an d in regard to a good many species, my infor- 

 mation rests on the records in that work. Where I knew the true 

 date of record the year is inserted. 



The chief discoverers and recorders of Scotch micro-fungi are 

 named below in historical order: Dr. Greville, whose works, "The 

 Scottish Cryptogamic Flora," 1823-29, and the "Flora of Edin- 

 burgh," must always be a mine of information. Dr. Johnstone 

 (Berwick) and Jerdon (Jedburgh) came next. Revs. J. Fergusson 

 (New Pitsligo and Fern), M. Anderson (Menmuir), Dr. Keith 

 (Forres and other Morayshire localities), and John Stevenson 

 (Glamis and other localities in Forfarshire, Perthshire, and Ross) r 

 and Dr. Buchanan White (Perthshire, &c), almost simultaneously 



