214 FUNGI. [Gyphella. 



35. Cryptomyces. Grev, Cryptomyces. 

 Ilymenium even, irregular, at lengtli exposed. Cup obli- 

 terated. Asci large, accompanied by parapki/ses. Sporidia 

 large, containing sporidiola. — Named from xgu-rrw, to conceal^ 

 and fj.v'/.7i;, a fungus. 



1. C, Wduc/iii, Grev. (loillow Cryptomyces) ; broad suborbi- 

 cular olivaceous, at length nearly black. Grev.! Sc. Crypt. FL 

 t. 20G. Ft. El. v. 2. p. 27. 



On willow-branches. Foxhall near Edinburgh, Caj^t. Wauch.-^ 

 Bursting forth in patches, from a few hnes to near an inch in breadth, 

 and surrounded by the torn bark. Reviving perfectly on application of 

 moisture, so that the large asci with their e[W\iiic sporidia may be easily 

 observed. This plant resembles greatly Bhytisma maximum, Fr. 

 The epidermis, however, is here thrown off by the growing parasite, 

 not to n)ention the great difference of structure. Still it is curious that 

 there are decided traces of the wliite stratum which is so remarkable 

 in R. salicinum, a state of which is figured by Sowerby under the name 

 of Spharia aurea, whose figure as far as it goes is excellent, though 

 necessarily imperfect ; it has no similarity to Sphmna Jiavo-virens, to 

 which Fries has, though doubtfully, referred it. 



2. C. versicolor, Fr. (various -coloured Cryptomyces); im- 

 mersed oblong or angular furnished with a laciniated spurious 

 margin, disc at length farinaceous. — Stictis versicolor, Fr. SysL 

 Myc. V. 2. p. 198. ScIpt. Sued lu 276.— «. disc white, at 

 length blackish. Hysterium fagineum, Pers. Syn. p. XXVIII. 

 — Tremella saligna, Alb. S)- Schiv. Consp. t. 9. /. 7. — c. disc 

 green. Hyst. viride, Fr. Obs. 1. /9. \9b.— -Stictis versicolor, |S, 

 viridis, Scler. Succ. ! n. 435. Stictis nigrita, Carm. MSS, 



On. wood. a. Very common, c. Appin, CajJt. Carnnchael. — The 

 hymeniiim resembles a small portion of a transverse slice of the albu- 

 men of a cocoa-nut, when it has been exposed a short time to the 

 air. The asci are large, the sporidia ratlier large, oblong, containing 

 two or more sporidiola, and there are evider.t slender paraphyses when 

 the plant is perfect. If Cryptomyces WaucJiii is to be considered as 

 belonging to a genus distinct from Stictis, for which there are very good 

 grounds, by parity of reasoning the present species must be removed, 

 and as it appears to me, it may very properly find a place in Dr. 

 Greville's genus Cryptomyces, the difference being only such as arises 

 from the different nature of the matrix : in the one case, the parasite 

 insinuating itself as it were between the distinct strata, the border is 

 formed by the mere epidermis ; in the other case, when the plant origi- 

 nates in a comparatively homogeneous substance, the portion of wood 

 which covers the incipient fungus, acquires a sort of spurious organiza- 

 tion, and hence, when it bursts, forms around the hymenium a border, 

 which can be considered neither as a mere pellicle of wood, nor as a 

 true excipidum. 



36. Cyphella. Fr. Cyphella. 



Cup concave, pendulous ; sporidia separating like dust. Asci 

 none. — Named from Ki/fgX?.©!', a cw/),. 



