C7> 



oo 



Descriptions of New Ceylon Fungi. 



BY 



T. PETCH. 



HHHE following diagnoses describe some of the fungi which 

 -*~ have been observed on specimens submitted to the 

 Department daring 1905 from various districts in Ceylon. 

 The majority are parasitic on the plants specified, but their 

 occurrence has generally been confined to one locality, and 

 their effect in most cases has been almost negligible. 



Scarcely any descriptions of Ceylon fungi have been 

 published since Berkeley & Broome's Paper on the Fungi 

 of Ceylon in 1875, in which about 1,200 species (chiefly 

 •saprophytic) were recorded. Our knowledge of parasitic 

 species is limited to those cases in which they have caused 

 serious damage, though even here there are instances in 

 which the fungus has never been described. Yet the 

 number and variety of the cultivated plants of the Island 

 postulates an equal abundance of parasitic, though not 

 necessarily dangerous, fungi, and in order to arrive at a 

 thorough knowledge of these it is intended to publish at 

 intervals descriptions of such as have been investigated. 



Asterina tenuissima. — Tenuissima, late effusa, macu- 

 lam nebulosam in ramulis et fructibus formans ; hyphis 

 repentibus brunneis. 4-5 n diam., glabris, a strato mucoso 

 deinde junccis, multas erectas, septatas, olivaceas, acntas 

 cd hyphas, 90-100 /*, gerentibus ; peritheciis applanatis, nigris, 

 130-160 n diam., ostiolatis : ascis clavatis, 30-40x9-12^ ; 



LIURAItY 

 NEW YORK 

 BOTANI 



(jaHUBN. 



[Annate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Vol, III., Part I., March, 1906. J 



9(i)oe (i) 



