igig- Irish Societies. 79 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



April 9. — The President (W. F. Gunn) in the chair. 



D. McArdle exhibited Lejeunea minutissima, Smith, bearing perianths 

 and the androecium. The plant is very minnte, scarcely visible when 

 growino to the naked eye, of a white-green colour. The stem is filiform, 

 geniculate, furnished with alternate leaves in which there is ver^^ little 

 difference between the antical and postical lobes and which look more 

 like a series of inflated bladders than leaves. It is remarkable that 

 the row of under-leaves or stipules is absent, which at once separates 

 the plant from some of its near allies which have these peculiar structures. 

 The perianth is a delicate structure, emersed, pyriform, furnished with 

 a series of pellucid cells. The androecium is on a short lateral branch 

 bearing three or four pairs of cymbiform bracts, each enclosing a single 

 large oval antheridium. The remains of Infusoria were shown in the 

 inflated leaves, which also often contain Nostoc, etc., attracted by the 

 moisture contained in the bladder-like leaves. The specimens were 

 collected in a wood at Anascaul, Co. Kerry. The plant is frequent 

 in the south-west, rare in the north and east of Ireland, and found 

 also in England and on the Continent. 



May 14. — The President (W. F. Gunn) in the chair. 



Dr. G. H. Pethybridge exhibited the fungus Papitlaspora sepedovioides 

 found on a decaying onion bulb from a garden in the suburbs of Dublin. 

 The systematic position of this fungus is doubtful, for whereas in 

 Engler-Prantl's " Pflanzenfamilien " Lindau places it amongst the 

 Hyphomycetes (Mucedinaceae), Schroter includes it in the Hemiascineae. 

 It appears to be a saprophyte but its morphology and behaviour in culture 

 have not been studied closely nor have infection trials been carried out. 

 The fungus is of interest because its fructifications, at first glance, might 

 be mistaken for the spore balls of Onion Smut [Urocystis cepulae) a 

 serious fungoid disease prevalent in some parts of the United States of 

 America which has, in the last couple of years, been found in isolated 

 instances in England ; happily it has not yet made its appearance in 

 Ireland. Specimens of U. cepulae and of U . colchici from foreign sources 

 were exhibited for purposes of comparison. 



NOTES. 



BOTANY. 



Clavaria arg^illacea. 



A white Clavaria, almost unbranched, which in very cold October 

 weather was conspicuous last autumn on bare j^eat on Blackstairs, Co. 

 Carlow, at 2,000 feet, was identifi.ed by Mr. A. D. Cotton as S. argillacea 

 Ft. The only other Irish record appears to be from the Cork district. 



R. Lloyd Praeger, 

 Dublin. 



