226 FETCH : 



7-8 [X ; part-spores cylindric, ends rounded, 10-12 X 2-2*5 [i. 

 (Thaxter). Aschersonia stage. — Aschersonia tnrbinata Berk., 

 Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser. 2., IX., p. 192 (1852) ; Aschersonia 

 Pittieri P. Henn., Hedwigia (1902), p. 104. 



This is apparently a common species in the West Indies. All 

 specimens hithei'to collected have been recorded as Aschersonia, 

 but Thaxter has recently shown that the perithecia occur in the 

 basal stroma (Bot. Gaz., LVII., p. 358), not, like the pycnidia, on 

 the concave disc. Large specimens of this species are immistak- 

 able. They consist of a large, pulvinate basal stroma, often 

 cracked and reticulated when old, from which arise, in all direc- 

 tions, what ajjpear to be stout-stalked Pezizas, the stalk being 

 usually obconical, and the upper end expanded into a concave 

 disc. Smaller specimens may bear only one disc ; if the basal 

 stroma is developed, they are then constricted in the middle or 

 somewhat egg-cup-shaped. But specimens which have a single 

 disc are often merely columnar, and they may then be confused 

 with Aschersonia cuhensis ; they differ from the latter species in 

 the shape of the pycnospores and in the sharp edge of the disc. 

 The surface of the disc is not sporiferous in the specimens 

 examined ; the pj^cnidia are embedded in the stroma below the 

 disc and open on to it. The colour given above is that of the 

 herbarium specimens ; but a communication from Mr. F. W. 

 South states that the stromata are white when young, and pale 

 pink when older, surmounted by a central, red mass of spores. 

 In a collection of small specimens from Trinidad, ex Herb. 

 Thaxter, they are yellow. 



Berkeley's type specimen, from Nicaragua, in Herb. Kew, 

 contains the largest specimens I have seen ; they are up to 1 cm. 

 in diameter, with four or five stalked discs, the discs being up to 

 4 mm. across. Herb. Paris contains a co-type from Berkeley, 

 and also specimens " C. Wright, Nicaragua, Herb, of the U. S. 

 North Pacific Exploring Expedition, 1853-6." There are also 

 specimens in Herb. Kew, det, Hennings, on Lucuma caimito 

 from Brazil, ex Herbaria Amazonico Musei Pansnsis. Herb. 

 Berlin contains specimens from Brazil, on Chrysophyllum caimito, 

 coll. Huber, and others on leaves of Miconia triandra, coll. Pere 

 Duss, 1901, apparently from Guadeloupe. The type of Ascher- 

 sonia Pittieri in Herb. Berlin, from Cocos Island, Wasser Bay 

 (Costa Rica), on leaves of Citrus aurantium, contains poorly 

 developed specimens of Aschersonia turhinata on Lecanium 

 hesperidum Auctt. 



The specimens assigned to Aschersonia oxyspora Berk., in Jour. 

 Linn. Soc, XV., p. 394, are small specimens of A. turhinata ; the 

 name was entered in error under A. cuhensis in my preliminary 

 paper. This collection has a somewhat involved history, of which 

 the following appear to be the facts. In Hooker's Journal of 

 Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany, VI. (1854), p. 205, Berkeley 

 described Aschersonia oxystoma from India. In the same Journal, 

 VIII. (1856), p. 278, he listed a specimen from S. Carlos, Brazil, 



