MELANCONIUM. 



[ 421 ] 



MELOPHILA. 



branous, central heterogeneous column, 

 branching h-regularly at the summit; spores 

 ovate, simple. 



II. Stilbospora. Conceptacle mem- 

 branous, without a central column, bursting 

 irregularly at the summit ; spores oblong, 

 transversely septate or cellular. 



III. DiDYMOspoRiuM. Like the prece- 

 ding, but with didymous spores. 



IV. Cytispora. Conceptacle celluloso- 

 multilocular, membranous, united above, 

 bursting by a common elongated ostiole ; 

 spores simple, expelled in a gelatinous 

 riband-like mass. 



V. Ceuthospora. Conceptacle mem- 

 branous, solitary, immersed in a common 

 conceptacle, horny without, fleshy within ; 

 ostiole simple ; spores ovate, simple. 



VI. Nemaspora. Conceptacle mem- 

 branous, immersed in a grumous common 

 receptacle, encircling a heterogeneous colu- 

 mella, conjoined at the apex, dehiscing in a 

 common tube, hence with a solitary ostiole; 

 spores spindle-shaped, simple. 



VII. CoRYNEUM. Sporophores erect, 

 closelv crowded into a disk, breaking; out 

 upon the surface of the epidermis, bearing 

 spindle-shaped multiseptate sjiores. 



VIII. Bactridium. Mycehum creeping, 

 branched, closely septate ; spores spindle- 

 shaped, multiseptate, with transparent ends, 

 filled in the middle with grumous matter. 



IX. Eriospora. Stroma multicellular, 

 cells (conceptacles) globose, expelling by a 

 common pore veiy slender filiform spores, 

 originally attached in fours to sporophores. 



X. Cheirospora. Perithecia absent (?). 

 Spores simple, naked, crowded in bunches 

 at the apex of a simple filiform pedicel ; 

 normally in moniliform rows. 



XI. Discella. Perithecium sub-simple, 

 sometimes obsolete or altogether deficient 

 above, hence excipuliform ; spores elongated, 

 simple or uniseptate, borne on sporophores. 



MELANCONIUM, Lk. — A genus of 

 Melanconiei (Coniomycetous Fungi), so 

 called from forming a kind of black rust on 

 branches of trees, reeds, &c. Several spe- 

 cies have been found in Britain. The com- 

 monest is M. bicolor, Nees {Didyniosporium 

 elevatum, Br. FL), on twigs of birch. Fries 

 places also Cryptosporiiim vulffareheve. (See 

 Cryptosporium.) 



BiBL. Berk. Brit. Flora, ii. pt. 2. p. 35/ ; 

 Ann. Nat. Hist. vi. p. 438 ; Fries, Summa 

 Veg. p. 508. 



MEL ASM I A, Lev. — A supposed genus 

 of Sphaeronemei (Coniomycetous Fungi), 



but apparently only a stylosporous form of 

 Rhytisma. M. acerinum occurs on the 

 leaves of the sycamore, forming black spots, 

 sometimes as much as 1-2" in diameter. 



BiBL. Berk. Ann. Nat. Hist. 2nd ser. v. 

 p. 456 ; Leveille, Ann. des Sc. imt. 3 ser. v. 

 p. 276 ; Fries, Summa Veget. p. 423. 



MELICERTA, Schrank.— A genus of 

 Rotatoria, of the family Floscularisea. 



Char. Bodies each in an isolated tubular 

 carapace or urceolus ; rotatory organ fom*- 

 lobed ; eyes two, at least when young. 



M. ringens (PI. 35. fig. 3 ; fig. 4, animal 

 removed from the sheath ; fig. 6, jaws). 

 Carapace conical or cylindrical, brownish, 

 composed of numerous rounded or discoidal 

 bodies agglutinated together; body colour- 

 less. Aquatic; length of carapace 1-36 to 

 1-24". 



Frequently found attached to water-plants, 

 especially Potamogeton crispus. 



BiBL. Ehrenberg, hifus.^. 404; William- 

 son, jSIicr. Journ. 1852. 



MELOLONTHA, Fabr. (Cock-chafer). 

 — A genus of Coleopterous Insects, of the 

 family Melolonthidse. 



The structure of M. vulgaris, the common 

 cock-chafer, has been elaborately studied 

 and described. 



BiBL. Suckow, Naturgeschichte des Mai- 

 kcifers; Straus Durckheim, Consider, general, 

 s. V Anatomie comparee des Insectes ; West- 

 wood, Introduction, ^'c. 



MELOPHILA, Nitzsch {Melophagus, 

 Latr.). — A genus of Dipterous Insects, of 

 the family Hippoboscidse. 



Char. Head posteriorly received in an 

 excavation of the thorax ; wings and halteres 

 absent ; last joint of the tarsus largest. 



M. ovinus, the sheep-tick (PI. 28. fig. 23). 

 Common upon sheep. Antennae small, sunk 

 in an eye-like cavity of the head; eyes small, 

 oval, resembling two groups of ocelli ; setae 

 three, enclosed in two sheath-like, hairy, 

 unjointed organs (labial palpi), resembling 

 otherwise those of Pulex, and arising from 

 the sides of a triangular labium. Legs 

 robust ; tarsi with two stout serrated claws, 

 each having at its base a blunt process; 

 accompanying the claw is an elegant feathery 

 tarsal brush ; and on the under side of the 

 last tarsal joint is a bilobed pectinate organ. 



BiBL. Lyonet, Rech. s. V Anatomie et les 

 metamorphoses, Sfc. Paris, 1832 ; Gurlt, Ma- 

 gaz.f. d. gesammte Thierheillcunde, 1843. ix.; 

 Westwood, Introduction, Sfc. ; Curtis, Brit. 

 Entom. 142; Dufour, Ann. d. Sc. nat. 

 1845. iii. 



