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



commonly open above. In some species they are provided with 

 a thick border or a particular appendage, to which the perithe- 

 cium* is attached, in which case the evacuation of the sporidia 

 may be effected from the inferior side. If the asci and sporidia 

 do not all come to maturity at the same time, it is easy to ob- 

 serve all the phases of their development ; — an argument with 

 which I shall occupy myself in detail when I come to discuss the 

 merit of the fundamental divisions of the whole tribe. 



In only two Sphserias, >S^. 'profusa, Tr., and /S*. macrospora, nob., 

 I have yet found the asci tetrasporous. In the greater number 

 they are octosporous and uniseriate : in very few cases are they 

 polysporous. 



The nucleus when constituted of asci only bursts through the 

 perithecium in the form of a turbid stream which flows on the 

 matrix, or if of a denser consistence, assumes the form of a little 

 cirrhus ; a property which, though rare, is even repeated in the 

 species which possess asci of longer duration. 



Finally, I expect to be able to draw part of the distinctions of 

 the genera from the paraphyses, whenever they offer the character 

 of separate organs distinguished from the asci by their filamen- 

 tous form and the articulations with which they are interrupted 

 at intervals. Under other forms and when inarticulate, they may 

 be regarded as asci in a rudimental state, and indeed there are 

 many species in which they are totally wanting in the most fully 

 developed individuals. Examples of this kind are met with in 

 all the species analogous to Spharia herbarum, described in my 

 third decade of the Micromycetes, which with its analogues con- 

 stitutes a most distinct genus. 



I have thus indicated the elements which may be made use of 

 in the needful reform of the Sphceriacece ] though I am but a 

 gleaner in this vast field, I yet think myself able now, at least 

 partially, to propose some very distinct genera, making use — 



I. Of the characters which may be derived from the figure of 

 the stroma, if determinate, and of the texture of the perithecium. 



II. Of the properties of the nucleus, the asci and paraphyses. 



III. And especially of the structure of the sporidia, of their 

 number in each ascus, and of the manner in which they are 

 dispersed. 



It may afterwards be possible to limit the genera without having 

 recourse to the stroma and perithecia, that is to say, when the 

 analysis of the parts of the fructification in most if not all of the 

 known species is completed ; and if any reply to me that it is in- 

 jurious to science to multiply genera, although founded on im- 



* Observed T believe for tbe first time by Montagne in Thamr.omyces 

 rostratus, PI. Cellul. Exot. 2 cent. Ann. d. Sc. Nat. vol. xiii. ; and by Corda 

 in Sph. Hiigelii, Icon. Fung. Fasc. 4. 



