HYPOCBELLA AND ASCHERSONIA. 193 



mention paraphyses, and by universal consent the genus has 

 been held to include species with paraphyses and species 

 without them. 



In the genus Hypocrella conditions are different, and a 

 number of species have been included in the genus, either 

 by their original describers or by transference, which are 

 plainly not co-generic with Hypocrella discoidea. Thecharacter 

 relied upon appears to have been merely the presence of 

 perithecia with filiform ascospores immersed in a stroma. 

 In some cases discomycetes have been referred to Hypocrella, 

 but the most frequent error has been the inclusion of species 

 of Balansia. 



The genus Balansia Speg., and a few allied genera, comprise 

 a group of species biologically well defined if not easily 

 distinguishable by systematic characters. Most of the species 

 are parasitic on grasses, and form a black stroma, which may 

 be pulvinate, or elongated, or may give rise to stalked stromata 

 with pulvinate or rounded heads. The perithecia are embed- 

 ded in the stroma, are usually thin- waUed, and densely crowded 

 in a distinct peripheral layer. The asci are cylindric and capped, 

 resembling those of Hypocrella, but with a slightly longer 

 pedicel, and the ascospores are filiform and almost as long 

 as the ascus, MoUer states that the spores of Balansia 

 ambiens and Balansia diadema are septate, and divide when 

 placed in a nutrient solution ; that the spores of B. regularis 

 are also septate, but do not divide in the ascus ; and that 

 Balansia redundans has septate spores. He also states that 

 the spores of Ophiodothis Henningsiana {=DotMchloe) and 

 Ophiodothis rhaphidospora {=Linearistroma) have septate 

 spores, which do not dfvide within the ascus. I have not 

 been able to observe septa in the spores of the available 

 specimens of Balansia brevis (B. & Br.) v. Hohnel, B. Panici 

 (Massee), B, axillaris (Cooke) and B. Bamhusse (B. & Br.). 



In many cases the stroma of Balansia seems superficial, e.g., 

 in Balansia brevis and B. Panici, where it appears to be seated 

 longitudinally along a leaf, or in B. Bamhusee, in whicli it is 

 situated at the apex of a short shoot. Examination of the 

 stroma shows that in the first two cases the stroma completely 

 encloses a lateral shoot, and adheres on one side to the leaf, 



