GYMNASCACEAE 



49 



y. Ascoma sessile; spores globose to glo- 

 boid 

 (x) Spores bright-colored, hyaline to yel- 

 low or red 

 (y) Spores dark, brown or brown-violet 

 (b) Ascoma of thick-walled, much branched 

 hyphae, united to form a lattice-like 

 peridium 

 X. Hyphal branches similar, with spines or 



prongs 

 y, Hyphal branches of two sorts, some be- 

 coming especially differentiated ap- 

 pendages 

 (x) Appendages circinate at tip 

 (y) Appendages comb-like 

 b. Asci many-spored; spores ellipsoid 

 2. Ascoma biogenous 



a. Spores 1-celled, hyaline; zoogenous 



b. Spores x-celled, dark; phytogenous 



B. Ascoma more or less solid and parenchymic, with 

 a rudimentary peridium 



1. Ascomata clustered on a stalk 



2. Ascomata not stalked 



a. Spores purple, smooth, ovoid 



b. Spores hyaline to yellowish 



(1) Spores globose, large, verruculose 



(2) Spores typically ellipsoid and ridged, small 



Arachniotus 11:438 

 Amaurascus 11:438 



Gymnascus 8:823; 6 



Myxotrichum F 295; 6 

 Ctenomyces 8:824 

 Myrillium 11:438 



Eidamella 16:805 

 Hexagonella 



Penicilliopsis F 306 



Diplostephanus 



Lilliputia 16:816 

 Carpenteles 



Order 7. PERISPORIALES 



Mycelium typically superficial, light-colored or dark, sometimes lacking, rarely 

 forming a membrane or stroma; perithecia closed, breaking into plates or opening 

 irregularly at the top, rarely at the base, sometimes deliquescing, apparently never 

 with a true ostiole, usually globoid and sessile but sometimes elongate or flask- 

 shaped, regularly membranous, occasionally coriaceous but rarely carbonous, often 

 provided with appendages, bristles or hairs; asci one to many, clustered on branched 

 hyphae, disposed irregularly, or most frequently in a basal umbel-like group, globoid 

 to elliptic or clavate, rarely cylindric or long-stalked; typically without paraphyses; 

 spores various. 



This order is distinguished from Gymnascales by the presence of a definite 

 perithecium with a distinct wall. The family Eurotiaceae may be placed almost 

 equally well in either group, the branched ascogenous hyphae relating it to Gym- 

 nascales, the true perithecium to Perisporiales. The chief distinction from the 

 Sphaeriales lies in the absence of a true ostiole. The Trichothyriaceae approach 

 Microthyriales by virtue of the radiate perithecium. but this is not dimidiate, with 

 the asci in hymenia. The order passes so gradually into Microthyriaceae and 

 Sphaeriaceae that it is impossible to draw sharp lines, the Capnodiaceae in par- 

 ticular sometimes possessing a distinct if not typical ostiole, while in some of the 

 Sphaeriaceae and Hypocreaceae, the ostiole is indistinct or lacking. 



The Perisporiales seem to have sprung directly from the Gymnascaceae, and 

 to have given rise to the two somewhat parallel phyla, the Sphaeriales and Micro- 

 thyriales. 



