1G4 DR. ETHEL M. DOIDGE 



An liiteiestinn Group of Leaf Fungi. 

 By Etpiel M. Doidge, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S. 



It is universally acknowledged that the flora of South 

 Africa is an exceptionally interesting one and offers 

 uni(iiie opportunities to those who make a study of plant' 

 life. There is no lack of nature students who are inter- 

 ested in floAvering plants, which naturally recommend 

 themselves as objects of study by their beauty or by their 

 peculiarities of structure, and the systematic or economic 

 botanist has no difficulty in getting into touch with en- 

 thusiastic collectors in different parts of the country. 

 Up lo the present, however, very few have turned their 

 attention to the more minute forms of plant life, which 

 are equally interesting and beautiful, and some of which 

 are of as great importance as the more conspicuous 

 flowering plants. 



My object in writing this paper is to endeavour to 

 arouse interest in a group of fungi which has occupied 

 my attention for some years, and which is vei'y 7nchly 

 represented in this coimtry. The word '' fungi -' to most 

 people immediately conjures up a vision of mushrooms 

 and toadstools so-called — which are not easy to liandle 

 and form into a collection as many of them deliquesce 

 at maturity, and all lose their form and colour on dry- 

 ing. — Or puff balls or tlie bracket fungi common on tree 

 trunks, are called to mind, but these latter, although 

 easy to collect and preserve, are not a very suitable group 

 for the amateur collector unless he lias unlimited space 

 at his disposal; most of the specimens being bulky, and 

 requiring constant fumigation to prevent their being de- 

 stroyed by insects. 



It is not of these large, fleshy forms I wish to 

 w^rite, but of a group of fungi which produces more or 

 less definite 1)1 ack s])ots on leaves, and among which, al- 

 though there is a monotonous sameness to the naked eye^ 



