242 PETCH : THE FUNGI 



tallizing dishes produced an abundance of aerial hyphas, 

 some of which united into strands. " the thickness of a finger,'' 

 but at the end of a week the walls and cover of the dish were 

 completely over-grown by a thick, white web. He did not 

 obtain any conidia. and the cultivation was probably kept too 

 damp. Doflein (13) records the formation, under similar 

 conditions, of long cylindrical fructifications, but does not 

 describe them further. 



A Xylaria has been described by Penzig and Saccardo (5) 

 from termite combs at Buitenzorg under the name Xylaria 

 torrubioides. They state that it resembles X. Gardneri, 

 var. minor, but is still more slender. Their description is 

 Xylaria torrubioides. Penz. & Sacc. Malpighia XI. (1897), 

 p. 496. 



Gregaria, stromatibus erectis, cylindraceis , sursum attenua- 

 to-acutis, ssepe curvulis, rarius furcatis, griseo-cinereis, 15-20 

 mm. long., 1—1 "5 mm. diam., stipite sterili bvevissimo, clava 

 fertili vix tenuiore ; peritheciis semi-immersis, ostiolo conico 

 prominente, nigris, carbonaceis, 180-120 n diam. ; ascis 

 cylindraceis, 18-20 x 3-3 • 5 ; sporidiis monostichis, minutissi- 

 mis, 2 '5-3 x 2-2*5, globoso-ellipticis, atro-brunneis. 



In nidis termitidum in horto bot. Bogoriensi in Java. 



The figure of this species in Icones Fungorum Javanicorum 

 shows that it grew directly on the comb, the latter presumably 

 being exposed. It is probably the ascus-conidial form of X . 

 nigripes (=- X. Qardneri). 



The specimens here referred to as Xylaria nigripes, Klotzsch. 

 agree exactly with those in the Peradeniya Herbarium marked 

 X. Gardneri by Berkeley. The species is so strikingly distinct 

 that the latter name was at first accepted without much doubt ; 

 the description of A", escharoidea suggested X. Gardneri, but 

 as there are no specimens of the former in the Peradeniya 

 Herbarium no comparison could be made. But the figures 

 of A. mutabilis, Currey (Trans. Linn. Soc. 1875. Ser. 2, 

 Bot. 1, tab. 21) exactly represent the conidial and perithecial 

 forms of A . Qardneri, and the habitat, " on brick laid paths," 



