ASCOPHANUS. 175 



On horse and cow dung. 



No specimen seen by me. 



Readily known by the orange-red colour and varnished 

 aspect of the ascophore, which is due to the great amount of 

 gelatine present. The paraphyses are very slender, and 

 generally most deeply coloured at the base, from the 

 accumulation of granules. The asci are relatively small, as 

 are also the spores. (Boudier.) 



Saccardo — Syll., viii. p. 529 — says, under the present 

 species, that in an Italian specimen the asci are cylindric- 

 oblong, 80 x 16 fx; spores 2-seriate, oblong-ellipsoid, 1- 

 guttulate, hyaline, 14—15 x 7-8 /v; paraphyses filiform, 

 forked above. 



Ascophanus cinereus. Boud., Mon. Ascob., p. 59, 

 t. xi., fig. 37 ; Phil., Brit. Disc, p. 308 ; Sacc, Syll., viii. 

 n. 2204. 



Gregarious, sessile, fleshy and soft, disc becoming slightly 

 concave or almost plane, pallid at first, then grey, finally 

 often blackish, glabrous, sometimes irregular in form, up to 

 1 mm. across; hypothecium andexcipulum parenchymatous, 

 cells irregularly polygonal, cortical cells largest and coloured: 

 asci cylindric-clavate, narrowed into a slender pedicel, 

 8-spored ; spores 1 -seriate or towards maturity inclined to 

 become irregularly 2-seriate above, elliptical, hj^aline, smooth, 

 18-22 x 10-12 jx; paraphyses slender, septate, simple or 

 sometimes forked low down, tips not thickened, slightly 

 longer than the asci. 



Ascobolus cinereus, Crouan, Ann. Sc. Nat., vol. x. pi. 13d, 

 figs. 17-20. 



On horse and cow dung. 



Specimen in Rehm's Ascom., n. 470, examined. 



Boudier says that the epispore is granulated ; this feature 

 I have not observed in Rehm's specimens, neither in Currey's 

 British specimens, yet such may probably be the condition 

 presented by the spores at maturity. In some instances in 

 Rehm's specimen, the free spores were slightly tinged with 

 brown, and furnished with a small pale papilla or wart at 

 each end. 



When young, the exterior of the ascophore is often 

 minutely mealy or pruinose. 



