CEYLON FT7NGI. 21 



Saccardo, Syll. Fung., II., p. 635, placed, this species in 

 Scirrhia, and was followed by Cooke in Grevillea, XIII., p. 72. 

 Theissen and Sydow (Ann. Myc, XIII., p. 417) have examined 

 the tjrpe specimen in Herb. Kew, and state that it cannot be 

 determined with certainty as the specimens are scanty and 

 effete. They describe the stromata as elongated, dull black, 

 l'5-2'5 mm. long, 0-5 mm. broad, pulvinately projecting, 

 irregularly linear, running in the direction of the lateral nerves 

 of the leaf, immersed in the mesophyll, constantly accompanied 

 by an alga colony embedded beneath the cuticle, which at 

 first covers the stroma, but afterwards splits. Asci were not 

 seen. They state that the paraphyses (as described by 

 Berkeley and Broome) and the position of the stroma in the 

 mesophyll exclude the species from the genus Scirrhia, and 

 suggest that it should be included in the lichens, though the 

 loculi are dothideoid. 



There is an abundance of specimens in the co-type in Herb. 

 Peradeniya, and some contain mature asci. The stromata - 

 are chiefly hypophyllous, but may appear on the upper surface 

 also, exactly over those on the lower. They are usually 

 elongated, pulvinate, up to 2*5 mm. long, and 0*5 mm. broad, 

 erumpent, rupturing the epidermis longitudinally with a single 

 spUt (Berkeley and Broome's " Hysteriiformis ") ; but they 

 may be irregularly oval, and in that case the epidermis may be 

 broken in several places, in either straight or curved lines or 

 pierced with minute circular holes. The stromata are formed 

 in the mesophyll, and are composed of more or less parallel, 

 dark brown hyphae, except round the loculi, where the structure 

 is parenchymatous, and the tissue lining the loculus is hyaline. 

 When a stroma is present on both surfaces, the two are imited 

 internally by a loose web of brown hyphse passing between 

 the central mesophyll cells. The growth of the stroma 

 ruptures the over-lying epidermis, the upturned edges of which 

 border and partly cover the fungus. There is no epidermal 

 clypeus. The loculi are usually distant, oval or circular in 

 cross section and oval in longitudinal section, up to 170 ^ deep, 

 and 100 [k diameter ; they are generally arranged in two rows, 

 either closely approximated, or separating in the centre, 

 according to the shape of the stroma ; they have separate 



