78 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIP. 



The septum was, as I have said, faint and delicate, 

 and perceptible only under a magnifying power of 

 iooo ; but nevertheless no doubt could exist as to 

 its reality, as will be seen from comparing Fig. 53 x. 

 If a sporidium, when slightly crushed, separates into 

 two parts as there represented, or if one part can be 

 empty and dead while the other is still fresh and 

 r:ninjured, it must be two-celled. Moreover, I after- 

 wards met with more developed specimens in which 

 the septum was a conspicuous feature. 



Now the presence of this septum removes the 

 species from the genus in which Saccardo has placed 

 it. Pie knew it only from Cooke's description in the 

 Handbook ; so it appears in the " Sylloge " under No. 

 1549, as Ceratostomella ampullasca. But henceforth 

 it must be placed in the genus Lentomita, which has 

 two-celled sporidia. It is interesting to notice, as 

 confirming the accuracy of this conclusion, that the 

 other species of Lentomita are said to have the 

 internal membrane of the asci thickened at the top. 

 This I observed in my specimens, as will be seen in 

 Fig. 53^, where the thickening is represented as cre- 

 nately bilobed. Under a lower power this projec- 

 tion of the membrane appears as a bright circular 

 spot (Fig. 53 rt )> an d forms perhaps that "globose 

 body " which Messrs. Berkeley and Broome observed 

 at the tip of the asci of Sphnria pilosa, ' ' the nature 

 of which " they "were unable to determine." 



Another point worth notice in my specimens is that 

 the black (really dark brown) colour of the peri- 

 ; I iecium becomes paler upwards, and at the tip of the 

 beak almost disappears. Moreover the wall of the 

 perithecium is submembranaceous : that is, the cells 

 of which it is composed can be clearly seen. They 

 ore hexagonal in shape, 15 ju in diameter (Fig. 51), 

 but they become elongated at the base of the 

 rostrum, and at the apex they form a subpellucid 

 prosenchymatous tissue, of vermiform cells 30 /j. 

 long and only i\ n wide (Fig. 51). 



It thus appears that Cooke's species, Lentomita 

 amftdlasca, occurs not only on oak, as he records 

 it, but also on sycamore, Acer pseudo-platanus. But 

 this is not all. The form which I have been 

 describing occurred on the inner side of the liber 

 ayer of the bark ; the perithecia were globose or 

 ovate, immersed and scattered (Fig. 48), although 

 here and there two or three could be found in close 

 contact (Fig. 50). Occasionally, however, on the 

 outer side of the same bark, were found clusters of 

 perithecia which differed in two respects — the beaks 

 were sometimes shorter ; and, when the outer bark 

 was removed, the nearly ovate perithecia were left 

 seated just within the surface of the inner bark, i.e. 

 nearly superficial. But the identity of the two forms 

 could not be doubted. 



Now in the Handbook, p. 877, immediately after 

 tlie description of Spkaria ampullasca is found 

 another of Splnvria stylophora, B. and Br., which is 

 said to have the " perithecia at first covered, at length 



free, disposed in orbicular patches, ovate, attenuated 

 upwards ; ostiola longer than the perithecia ; asci 

 broadly clavate ; sporidia fusiform, hyaline, uniseptate, 

 appendiculate at either end." Moreover it occurred 

 on Acer platanoides. 



It is obvious that, so far as it goes, this descrip- 

 tion will apply very nearly to the second form of 

 L. atnpullasca, which I have mentioned. The size of 

 the sporidia is not stated, but the figure given by the 

 authors closely resembles some of those from my 

 specimens, before the appendages have fallen off. The 

 figure of the perithecia represents them with short 

 beaks, but this is contradicted by the description. 



Except by reference to the original specimens of 

 Berkeley, it is of course impossible to establish the 

 identity or non-identity of the two species beyond 

 a doubt. I only suggest a possibility. But their 

 resemblance is so close that it will be better to put 

 Berkeley's species as a variety of Cooke's : say 

 Lentomita ampullasca, var. stylophora. In some of 

 my specimens the perithecia grew in dense oval 

 patches, though in other respects remaining abso- 

 lutely identical with the typical scattered form. 



One word in conclusion. It will be seen that the 

 position of a fungus in Saccardo's " Sylloge "is deter- 

 mined partly by the septation of its spores, and 

 therefore changes if additional septa are discovered. 

 This, if a fault, is one which the advance of know- 

 ledge will remove. There can be no doubt that 

 many species are at present imperfectly known in this 

 respect. If this occurs in the species described by 

 authors of the pre-microscopic or early microscopic 

 era, it can only be lamented ; but if, as sometimes 

 happens, perfunctory and imperfect descriptions are 

 given by writers of the present day, it would be 

 only just that those who come after them should 

 altogether ignore their misleading attempts. 



W. B. Grove, B.A. 



Birmingham. 



IN THE 'WOODS IN APRIL. 



/I PRIL yd, 1S85. — -A- beautifully warm day, 

 ~/jL with the sun shining brightly — just one of 

 those days on which out-door work can be pursued 

 with pleasure and comfort, a condition not always 

 granted at this time of the year. 



At 9.30 A.M. we started for Burwell and Haugham 

 Woods, which lie on the eastern foot of the Lincoln- 

 shire Wolds, at a distance of about five miles from 

 Louth. 



Before reaching the woods we had occasion to take 

 cut our pocket-book to note that frog-tadpoles had 

 emerged from their ova. Many masses of ova also 

 lay in the ponds as yet unhatched. 



Having arrived at the woods, we made our way 

 first of all to " the valley," the principal locality in 

 the neighbourhood for the local marbled-white 



