Mr. HassaH's Notices of British Freshwater Conferva. 385 



Like that species, the sporidia have a gelatinous coat, but 

 surrounding only one side, like an arillus. This is sometimes 

 contracted at the sides, so that a portion of it projects at either 

 end of the sporidium, forming a little transparent appendage. 

 It is probable that in an earlier stage of growth the coat en- 

 tirely surrounded the sporidium. 



Plate XII. fig. 18. Spheeria thyrsus, nat. size ; a, ostiola and perithecia ; 

 b, ascus with its sporidia ; c, sporidium with its gelatinous appendage. All 

 more or less magnified. 



47. Spheeria ianthino-velutina, Mont. 



Clavaria fusca, Svvartz ! Prod., is referable to this or some 

 closely allied species. The specimens are very imperfect, and 

 without fruit. 



48. Spheeria escharoidea, n. s. Suberosa simplex clavula 

 cylindrica apiculata ex ostiolis conicis prominulis scabra, pal- 

 lida ; stipite elongato, cylindrico, radicato. " Clavaria pistil- 

 laris} membrana escharoidea tecta. Fl. Zeyl." Konig in 

 Herb. Mus. Brit. 



Ceylon, Dr. Konig. Herb. Mus. Brit. 



Whole plant about 3 inches high, rooting deeply ; root 

 nearly equal, flexuous, uneven, nodulose, about jof a line thick ; 

 stem 1 inch high, cylindrical, equal, slightly thickened at the 

 base, about |rd of a line thick, black, washed with a dull white 

 coat, minutely striate or wrinkled, quite smooth ; head cylin- 

 drical, equal, nearly an inch high, obtuse at either end, tipped 

 with a sharp apiculus, pallid, rough, with the conical promi- 

 nent ostiola of the small perithecia. Sporidia not yet deve- 

 loped. 



A very distinct species, which can scarcely be confounded 

 with any described by authors. The head resembles the spike 

 of a Peperomia. 



Plate XII. fig. 19. Spheeria escharoidea, nat. size. 



49. Sph. ozdipus, Mont. Jamaica. Herb. Mus. Brit. 



XLVI.— Observations on a new Group, Genus and Subgenus, 

 of Freshwater Conferva, with descriptions of Species mostly 

 new. By Arthur Hill Hassall, Esq., M.R.C.S.JL. 

 Corresponding Member of the Dublin Natural History 

 Society. 



[Concluded from p. 344.] 



It now becomes necessary that I should make a few brief 

 remarks upon the classifications of the younger Agardh and 

 M. J. Decaisne, but only in so far as these have reference to 

 the group Vesiculaspermce. 



Ann. fy Mag. N. Hist. Vol. x. Suppl. 2 C 



