[ 56 ] 



Ibalf^^an^lbour at tbe flDicroecope, 



Mltb /IDi\ UixUcn Mest, ff.X.S., jf.lR^/ID.S,, etc. 



Plates III.— IV.— V. 



The Fungus on Sow-Thistle (PI. III., Figs. 1-5) is Cokosporiuvi 

 Souchi-arveiisis. It occurs not unfrequently on both the common 

 sow-thistle, " Sonchiis oleraceus^' and the field sow-thistle, " S. 

 arvensis.'" When on the latter it often covers large patches of 

 the under surface of the leaves, and in its prime is of a gloriously 

 rich colour, but this fades to a very dull hue when dried. I 

 found it very plentifully near Portsmouth in the summer of 1874, 

 and have also met with it near Hunstanton, and in this neighbour- 

 hood — Fareham. 



The genus Coleosporhan includes six species, found respectively 

 on the Coltsfoot, Butterbur, Harebell, Sow-thistle, Cow-wheat 

 (and its allies Eye-bright and Bartsia), and Rose. With all of 

 these I am familiar, except the last, which, though said to be. com- 

 mon, I do not know. To examine them it is necessary to make 

 thin transverse sections of the pustules with the leaves on which 

 they occur. The spores are said to be of two sorts, rounded, 

 produced in spore cases (asci) in the earlier part of the year, and 

 afterwards set free as a granular powder — the " Uredo-form," and 

 at a later season, " obovate cellules placed side by side, each 

 divided transversely by 3 or 4 septa." (M. C. Cooke, Micro. 

 Fungi, p. 120.) Appended is a figure of the fungus in its 

 present state. The slide furnishes a well characterised example 

 of the genus. 



White Excrescences on Leaf (PL IV., Figs, i — 6). — It is im- 

 possible to name them with certainty without being able to dissect 

 them. It is certainly a fungus, one of the Gasteromycetes (so 

 named from the spores being borne internally). Puff-balls furnish 

 familiar examples of Gasteromycetes. It is probably a species 

 of the genus T7^ichia, characterised by a stalked or sessile mem- 

 branous peridium, which bursts at the summit, whence the densely 

 interwoven free capillitium expands elastically, carrying with it 

 the spores (Micro. Die, " Trichia,'' p. 699). I subjoin illustrative 

 figures. 



Seeds of Stellaria Aquatica (PI. III., Fig. 6). — Botanical 

 subjects being still in the minority amongst the slides exhibited in 

 our cabinets, I insert one of the seeds of the Water Chickweed or 

 Starwort — " Stellaria aquatica^ It furnishes a beautiful object 

 and an instructive study of natural dovetailing, as well as inimitable 

 model for armour-plating. It is described along with several 



