REVISIONS OF CEYLON FUNGI. 433 



situated in the epidermis and raising the cuticle which falls off 

 in flakes ; ostiola about 10 /^ diameter, not projecting. Asci 

 at first oval, then broadly clavate, 50 X 13 M, eight-spored, 

 the spores arranged irregularly in two rows. Spores hyahne, 

 one septate, shghtly clavate, ends rounded, 13-15 X 4 i". 



64. — Rosellinia bothrina (B. & Br.) Sacc. 



Sphceria (Byssisedce) bothrina B. & Br.. Fungi of Ceylon, 

 No. 1090, Journ. Linn. Soc, XIV., p. 125. 



Perithecia gregarious, embedded at first in dark purple- 

 brown mycelium which subsequently weathers away ; at 

 first blaokish-brown, with a black ostiolum. then black ; 

 .superficial, carbonaceous, globose, shghtly depressed, 1*5 to 

 2-4 mm. diameter ; smooth (fragments of the myceHum adhere 

 at first to the perithecia, but these soon disappear) ; ostiolum 

 conical,- 0*1 mm. high, springing from a base 0*4 mm. diameter ; 

 perithecial wall brittle, black throughout, rather thin, about 

 O'l mm. thick. 



Asci about 300 /^ long, 8 jj diameter, cylindrical, spores 

 obliquely uniseriate or almost uniseriate ; paraphyses filiform, 

 about 2 /^ diameter, as long as the asci. Spores 40-47 X 5-7 M, 

 guttulate, finally opaque, black, cymbiform, ends pointed and 

 often abruptly narrowed in the last 3 /^. 



The mycelium spreads in white strands under dead leaves 

 and in the upper layers of the soil, and forms large patches, 

 white, then smoky gray, then purple, and finally black, on the 

 stems of the trees and shrubs attacked, just above the surface 

 of the ground. On diseased roots it forms coarse black strands 

 composed of hyphse which exliibit the usual swellings at the 

 septa. Where the hyphse enter the root, a white star-shaped 

 patch of mycehum is produced between the wood and the 

 cortex. The mycelium on tlie stem produces innumerable 

 crowded, erect, compound conidiophores, up to 2 mm. high 

 and 0-1 mm. diameter, which give it a velvety appearance : 

 the conidia are hyaline, narrow-oval, 4-6 X 2/^. 



This species is the cause of the Ceylon root disease in Gre- 

 villea rohusta, Symplocos obtnsata, tea, Panax fruticosum, 

 Cinnamonmm camphor a, and dadap {Erythrina sp.), which 



