ASCOBOLUS. 159 



* Externally glabrous. 



Ascobolus denudatus. Fries, Syst. Myc., ii. p. 154; 

 Bond., Ascob., p. 26, t. 5, fig. 3 ; Phil./ Brit. Disc, p. 2S7; 

 Sacc, Syll., viii. n. 21 G-t. 



Ascophores gregarious, narrowed below into a short, stem- 

 like base, disc closed at first, afterwards becoming plane, 

 externally smooth, altogether dull yellowish green, becoming 

 brownish and irregularly contracted when dry, 1-2 mm. 

 across ; hypothecium consisting of minute, very delicate 

 parenchymatous tissue, excipulum parenchymatous, cortical 

 cells 18-25 jx diameter ; asci large, clavate, slenderly stipitate, 

 8-spored; spores at first 1-seriate, then becoming more or 

 less irregularly 2-seriate above, elliptical, at first hyaline, 

 then violet, finally brown, marked with very delicate, more 

 or less anastomosing lines, 15-18 x 7-8 fx; paraphyses very 

 slender, septate, sometimes branched. 



On naked ground and on pine saw-dust. 



Specimens in Sydow's Myc. March., n. 786, and Rehm's 

 Ascom., n. 823, examined. 



Ascobolus asininus. Cke. & Mass., Grev., vol. xxi., 

 p. 72. 



Scattered or gregarious, hemispherical or subdepressed, 

 watery, fleshy, at first umbilicate, then open, with a thick 

 margin, indistinctly rngulose, pale olive-green or amber, or 

 a combination of both colours, 1-2 mm. across ; hypothecium 

 and excipulum parenchymatous, cortical cells large, poly- 

 gonal or nearly spherical ; asci broadly clavate, 8-spored ; 

 spores irregularly 2-seriate, elliptical, ends obtuse, 40-45 x 

 21-23 /a, at first hyaline, then reddish-brown, epispore thick, 

 finally cracked into subhexagonal, minute areolae ; para- 

 physes very long, slender, wavy, septate, hyaline, much 

 longer than the asci. 



On asses' dung. 



Type specimen examined. 



Somewhat gelatinous and translucent when growing. 

 Distinguished by the large spores and pale colour of the 

 ascophore. 



Ascobolus vinosus. Berk., Engl. Flora, vol. v. p. 209 ; 

 Phil., Brit. Disc, p. 288 ; Sacc, Syll., viii. n. 2147. 



