SACCOBOLUS. 293 



externally with very minute, simple, or fasciculate, 

 hyaline hairs; hymenium shining, a little undulating; 

 asci large, broadly clavate, very much exsorted ; sporidia 

 8, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, bright violet, becoming 

 brown, faintly and distantly rimose oi smooth, each 

 enclosed in a wide hyaline membrane fille ( with a colour- 

 less liquid, 50 — 70 X 30 — 48/x ; paraphys ss filiform. 



Ascobolus immersus — Pers., " Syr) Fung.," 677 : 

 "Myco. Eur.," i. p. 341; Nees, "Svs.,' f. 297; Fries^ 

 "Sys. Myco," ii. p. 164; Cheval, "Flo. En. Par," i. p. 

 303; Duby, " Bot. Gall," ii. p. 739; Coemans, "Not. 

 Ascob. Belg," p. 12, No. 1 ; Kickx, " Flo. Flan," i. p. 

 478; Nyl, " Pez. Fenn," p. 84; Karst, "Mon. Pez," 

 p. 204 ; Karst, " Myco. Fenn," p. 80 ; B. and Br, " Ann. 

 Nat. Hist," No. 1089, t. 17, f. 33 ; Boud, " Ascob," p. 36, 

 t. 8, fig. xvii. ; Fckl, " Symb. Myco," p. 286 ; Cooke, 

 "Handbk," No. 2204; Gill, "Champ," p. 144. Asc. 

 rnacrosporus — Crouan, "Ann. Sc. Nat," 1857, t. 4 B, 

 f. 5-8; Cooke, "Jour. Bot," 1864, f. 7. Asc. gigasporus 

 -De Not, " Disc," p. 6. 



Exs.— Cooke, " Fung. Brit," ed. ii. No. 397. 



On cow, sheep, horse, and goose dung. Autumn. 



About 300 to 800/ll broad. Easily recognized by the 

 large sporidia — larger than in any other species. 



Name — Immergo, to plunge ; immersed. 



Batheaston (Mr. C. E. Broome). Longmynd, Salop, 

 on goose-dung ! 



Genus III. — Saccobolus. Boud. 



Receptacle fleshy, sessile; externally glabrous, shining ; 

 hymenium plane, then convex, bright, covered with the 

 small exserted asci, resembling black shining granules ; 

 asci short, broad, almost quadrate at the apices, attenu- 

 ated at the base, and then nearly wedge-shaped, the 

 dehiscent operculum often triangular, not umbonate ; 

 sporidia 8 ; epispore waxy, smooth, very sparsely, 

 minutely, and often transversely rimose, inclosed in a 



