926 Prof. G. de Notaris on the Tribe Sphseriacese. 



II. Massaria. 



Perithecia coriacea cortici immersa, globoso-depressa, vertice atte- 

 nuata, ostioloque erumpente papillseformi prsedita, in sicco colla- 

 bentia. Asci clavati, fixi grandes octospori. Paraphyses filiformes 

 flaccidse intertextse. Sporidia subbiserialia, majuscula ovata, epi- 

 sporio hyalino crasso, endosporio papyraceo castaneo-fusco trilo- 

 culari, loculis inaequalibus, superiore majore subhemisphserico, me- 

 dio subgloboso, extimc minore hemisphserico ascis vertice dehis- 

 centibus copiose profluentia, atro inquinantia. 

 I dedicate this genus to tbe memory of the late Dr. Massara, 



author of the ^ Flora Valtellinese.^ 



Massaria inquinans. Sphceria inquinans, Tode Fung. Mecklenb. 

 ii. p. 17. n. 13. tab. 10. fig. 85, rather bad and incomplete ; 

 Schmidt and Kunze, Exsicc. n. 180 ! according to a specimen 

 from the enlightened Kunze ; Fries, Syst. ii. p. 486 ; Sclerom. 

 Suec. ed. 2. n. 304. Spilobolus inquinans, Link, Handb. iii. p. 380. 



It grows on the dead branches of the sycamore. 



The perithecia of this species are a millimetre in diameter, and 

 grow under the soft bark of the young boughs of the sycamore, 

 •sometimes solitary, sometimes in pairs or in clusters of many in- 

 dividuals. On their upper surface they are clothed with a fuligi- 

 nous down, a peculiarity not included in the generic characters, 

 because it is sufiiciently distinguished by the episporium of con- 

 siderable thickness and the form of the endosporium. 



The celebrated Link, in the ' Handbuch zur Erkennung,^ 1. c, 

 has proposed a new genus among the SphariacecBy under the 

 -name of Spilobolits, characterizing it merely by the way in which 

 the sporidia are evacuated from the perithecia. He refers to it 

 Sp. inquinans, S. Xylostei and S. Tilice, three species which have 

 no affinity together. Suffice it to say, Sp. Tilice belongs to the 

 compound Sphcerice, and the part which Link and many other 

 authors have described as a perithecium is nothing more than a 

 stroma of a determinate figure. 



III. ROSELLINIA. 



Perithecia globosa in strata bina facile secedentia, Crustacea, fragilia, 

 stromate efFuso filamentoso plus minusve contexto fuscescente in- 

 sidentia, ostiolo papillari minuto prsedita. Asci fixi, octospori, 

 lineares paraphysesque filiformes flaccidae ex tota superficie inte- 

 riori perithecii nascentes. Sporidia reniformia, episporio tenui, 

 endosporio fusco-badio, vix diaphano subpapyraceo, septo medio 

 obscuro bilocularia. 



Dedicated to Dr. Ferdinando Pio Koselline of Pisa, a great 

 cultivator " dell' amabile scienza/' 



Rosellinia aquila. Sp. aquila, Fries, Syst. ii. p. 442. 



