HYPOCRELLA AND ASCHERSONIA. 213 



caulium B. &. C, Jour. Acad. Sci., II. (1853), p. 279. Hypo- 



crella cameruHensis P. Honn., Engler's Bot. Jahrb., XXIIl., 



p. 540 (1897). 



This, though a large species, appears to be usually found on 

 twigs 4-6 mm. in diameter, and therefore almost completely 

 surrounds them. In some cases adjacent stromata are fused into 

 a continuovis mass surrounding the twig, while in others the 

 specimens consist only of a thin, barren stroma. The type 

 specimen from Lolodorf (Staudt No. 214. April 14, 1895), on stems 

 of some climber, in Herb. Berlin, consists of stromata of the 

 normal lecaniicolous type, or rather more globose than usual ; 

 some of the stromata are fused together, in one case into a tuber- 

 culate mass 1 • 75 cm. long, and 7 • 5 mm. broad, bearing isolated, 

 dark red, light-bordered areas which contain the perithecia. 

 The perithecia are situated at two different depths, i.e., more or 

 less in two layers ; those of the lower layer have correspondingly 

 longer necks. These specimens are associated with Stictococcus 

 Sjostedti Ckll. Another specimen in Herb. Berlin, from Bipindi, 

 Cameroons, is encrusting, glabrous, thin, of uniform thickness, 

 and sterile. Another collection from Lolodorf (Staudt, 23.3.95) 

 contains scutate specimens, like var. hrasiliana in form, but 

 glabrous. The specimens examined by me were immature. 

 With potash, the exterior turns piu-ple, but the interior does not 

 colour. Var. hrasiliana is represented in Herb. Berlin and 

 Herb. Kew by parts of the type collection, Ule 2613, on stems of 

 Eupatorium sp., Rio de Janeiro. The Kew specimens are appar- 

 ently barren. Ule 3036, on Strychnos, Rio Negro, in Herb. 

 Berlin, contains sterile, slightly scutate specimens, which are 

 glabrous. Puttemans 708, San Paulo, on a Composite, resembles 

 Ule 2613 ; the surface is powdery, but the centre is still brick-red ; 

 the ochraceous centre of the more mature specimens appears to 

 be due to the breaking up of the surface of the stroma, and conse- 

 quent exposure of the internal tissue, on the development of the 

 perithecia. A specimen from Costa Rica, in Herb. Berlin, 

 matches Puttemans 708. There are also two collections on 

 Vismia, from Para., in Herb. Berlin ; one of these, collected by 

 Dr. Huber, is glabrous, encrusting, and effused, like the Bipindi 

 specimen ; the other, collected by C. F. Baker, is encrusting, 

 circular, scutate, and glabrous ; both collections are sterile. 



Some of the sterile forms resemble a coating of scarlet sealing 

 wax on the stem ; they have the normal Hypocrella hyphse, and 

 give the same reactions with potash as the fertile forms of H. 

 camerunensis. There does not seem to be any reason to doubt 

 their relationship. Patouillard has recently discovered (Bull. 

 Soc. Myc. France, XXX., p. 346) that this sterile stroma was 

 described as Corticium caulium Berk. & Cvirt. from specimens 

 from Surinam. The species therefore becomes Hypocrella caulium 

 (B. & C.) Pat., at least as far as the American form is concei-ned. 

 It is probable that when riper material and the Aschersovia 

 stages are available, the American and African species will be 

 found to be distinct. 



