Continuation of the Fungi of Bath. By C. E. Broome, F.L.S. 

 {Bead March 18th, 1885.) 



Continuing our Notices of the Fungi of the Bath District from 

 a Paper read in March, 1883, before the Bath Field Club, we 

 commence with the 26th Order of Mr. Berkeley's arrangement in 

 the Putlines of British Fungology, Sphseriacei. The Order is 

 characterized by producing its fruit, called sporidia, in little sacs, 

 or asci, which grow in closed vesicles, perithecia, opening by a 

 round or elongate mouth. This is perhaps one of the most 

 interesting Orders of the Family Ascomycetes, especially to 

 Microscopists, owing to the great variety it presents, both in the 

 outward form and arrangement of the perithsecia, and in the 

 nature of the sporidia which, in this section, often afford good 

 specific characters, either in their mode of division, coloration, 

 or in the number contained in each ascus. Sphseri* are to be 

 found in all parts of the world. They are most abundant in 

 temperate climates ; but they are by no means rare in the tropics, 

 especially insect-sphaerise, and such forms as approximate to 

 Xylaria Hypoxylon, the finer states of which occur in the warmer 

 climates ; and it is probable that if tropical countries were 

 thoroughly investigated, a great number of undescribed species 

 ^ould be the resvdt. Ceylon has furnished us with conclusive 

 evidence on this point, thanks to the exertions of my late friend, 

 Mr. Thwaites, whose contributions to the mycology of that island 

 have been recorded in the Linncean Journal (Vols. XI., p. 494 and 

 XIV., p. 29). The old unwieldy genus Sphaeria, of which Fries 

 described, in his Systema Mycologicum, upwards of 1,000 species 

 has, since that time, been divided into numerous genera and 

 subgenera by almost every author who has written on the subject. 

 Many of these divisions are, however, of doubtful value; we 

 shall, therefore, confine ourselves in the present enumeration to 

 such as appear to be of most value, and are more generally 

 Vol. 6, No. 1. 



