266 MR. F. CURREY ON THE FRUCTIFICATION OF COMPOUND SPH^RI^. 



probably not a true Sphceria. In specimens in my own herbarium from Tunbridge 

 Wells, each pnlvinulus is seated upon a dense white byssoid subiculum, which 

 becomes bro\^^l ^^ith age. 

 3i. S. (Htpoxtion) veunicosa, Schwein. Tab. XLV. fig. 34, ascus with sporidia, x 316. 

 Sporidia uniseriate, dark brown, elliptical, 0-0005 to 0-0006 inch long. Perhaps only 

 a form of S. concentrica ; but Mr. Berkeley considers it distinct in the structure 

 of the stroma. 



35. S. (Htpoxtlon) argillacea, T'r. Obs. i. t. 2. f. 5. Tab. XLV. fig. 35, ascus with 



sporidia, X 325. Sporidia uniseriate, opaque black-brown, irregularly elliptical; 

 sometimes one, two, or three nuclei, or a number of small nuclei, are visible. 



36. S. (Hypocrea) RTjrA, Pers. Fr. S. M. ii. p. 335. Tab. XLV. fig. 36, ascus with sporidia, 



X 325. The sporidia are squarish colourless bodies usually 16 in each ascus, quite 

 unlike the usual fructification in the Pulvinatse. This plant agrees in its fructifica- 

 tion with S. citrina and S. lohata, and, like S. gelatinosa and some others, comes 

 very near to DotUdea ; for the perithecia, as far as I can make out, have no walls 

 distinct from the flesh of the stroma ; so that the fructifying mass is in fact a 

 "nucleus" in the sense in which that word is used in BotUdea. 



37. S. PRTJiNATA, Kl. Linn. vol. viii. p. 489. Tar. XLV. fig. 37, ascus with sporidia, x 325. 

 Sporidia uniseriate, dark brown, elliptical, -with 1 to 4 nuclei, or with a dark curved 

 band across, arising, I think, not from a septum, but from the approximation of the 

 nuclei ; varying slightly in length, but on an average 0001 inch long. Perithecia 

 crowded, dome-shaped, with mammillate ostiola, mostly, but not always covered with 

 a white farinaceous powder. 



38. S. (Htpoxylon) fusca, Pers. Pr. S. M. ii. p. 332. Tab. XLV. fig. 38, asci -vvith 

 sporidia, X 325. Sporidia elliptical or almond-shaped ; when young pale brown, with 

 one or two large nuclei, and sometimes small nuclei also ; when ripe very dark and 

 opaque, normally uniseriate, but occasionally crowded as shown in fig. 39, which 

 represents the fruit (X 225) of a Sphceria not differing materially from Sphceria 

 fusca, except that the sporidia are larger and more irregular than usual. The 

 latter plant occm-red at Eltham, in Kent, in June, 1855. The ordinary length of the 

 sporidia in S. fusca=0-000o inch. 



39. S. (Htpoxtlon ?) parmularia, Berkel. Tab. XLV. fig. 40, sporidia x 225. Sporidia 

 rather dark brown, clear, with mostly one nucleus, irregularly elliptical or almond- 

 shaped, 0-0004 inch long. The specimens are in a bad state ; and I had some doubt 

 whether the plant ought not to be referred to the ConnatcB or Conjliientes. There is, 

 however, some appearance of the debris of a Fulvinuliis. 



40. S. (Htpoxylon) coh^rens, Pers. Pr. S. M. ii. p. 335. Tab. XLV. fig. 41, ascus 

 with sporidia, X 325. Sporidia uniseriate, rather dark brown, irregularly elliptical, 

 frequently rather curved, often with one or two nuclei, 0-0003 to 0-0004 inch 

 long. 



41. S. (Htpoxylon) rubricosa, Pr. El. 2. p. 63. Tab. XLV. fig. 42, ascus -with sporidia, 



X 325. Sporidia uniseriate, dark brown, eventually opaque, elliptical, unisejitate, 

 with frequently a nucleus in each div-ision, 0*0004 to 0-0006 inch long. 



