246 FETCH : 



in Ceylon on a pale Aleyrodes on Loranthus spp., and frequent in 

 the low-country on Memecylon spp. ; specimens have also been 

 collected on Aleyrodes on Murrayu exotica, on Antidesma, on 

 Lasianthus Walkeri, on Strychnos Benthami, on Diospyros Ebenum, 

 and on Schleichera trijuga. 



Abnormal forms of Aschersonia, which evidently belong to 

 Aschersonia placenta, have been observed in two localities in 

 Ceylon, in both cases on an Aleyrodid on Diospyros Ebenum. In 

 one case, in the Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, the specimens are 

 yellow-green or olive-green, circular or oval, pulvinate or flattened, 

 usually with a rounded margin, but sometimes expanding into a 

 thin hypothallus. The stroma is firm and corky, yellowish or 

 olive internally. The ];)ycnidia resemble those of Aschersonia 

 placenta, but the spores are minute, 5-7 X 0*75-l, and the 

 paraphyses may reach 150 \j.. Tlie mass of spores^ and basidia 

 is deep yellow-brown in section. The specimens bear scattered 

 hyphse, some olive-green, 4 [>, diameter, smooth or strongly 

 roughened with minute warts and spines, and thin, liyaline 

 hyphse about 1 [jt, diameter ; these latter appear to penetrate 

 between the normal thick-walled hyphse of the strciTia. Later, 

 the stromata become covered with a •' pile " consisting of coni- 

 diopliores, erect, olivaceous, septate, somewhat irregular, smooth, 

 up to 160 {x high and 4 ^ diameter ; these bear oval, olivaceous 

 conidia 9-16 x 4-6 ^. This is a Cladosporium, parasitic on the 

 Aschersonia ; when the hyphomycete is producing conidia. the 

 olivaceous hyphse of the Cladosporium can be recognized within 

 the tissue of the Aschersonia. 



Another abnormal form was collected in some abundance on 

 the same plant at Sigiriya. The collection includes (1) nomial 

 Aschersonia placenta ; (2) greenish-yellow, corky forms similar 

 to those obtained at Peradeniya, but with immature pycnidia ; 

 these bear minutely-roughened hj'phse, which are hyaline, and 

 thinner than in the Peradeniya specimens ; some of the stromata 

 are green only on one side ; (3) pxirple forms. These purple 

 stromata are oval or circular, up to 4 mm. diameter, flattened, 

 or pulvinate, or scutate ; the pycnidia are generally circularly 

 arranged, and resemble those of Aschersonia placenta. The 

 general colour is purple, becoming blackish above, paler and 

 sometimes greenish-yellow at the base. In section the spore 

 mass and basidia are deep yellow-brown, even in unopened 

 pycnidia. In no case is there an extruded spore mass, but only 

 a cohering mass lining the pycnidium. In general the pycnos- 

 pores measure 2-4 x 0*5-0 -75 [ji, but sometimes they may be 

 5—7 X 0'75 [JL. Paraphyses are generally indiscoverable, but in 

 a few cases they occur, and are 60-80 \}. long. The stromata are 

 corky, and yellow-brown to purplish internally. The conidio- 

 phores of the parasite have not been observed in this case. 



Parkin's specimen A 5, which is Aschersonia hypocreoidea, 

 contains similar stromata. They are small, ptuple, placentiform, , 

 up to 1 mm. diameter ; the pycnidia are immature, with deep 

 yellow-brown contents. 



