126 CURREY, ON FUNGI. 



ring during the germination of Gymnosporium arundinis. I 

 did not ascertain as a fact^ but I suspect, that these smallbodies 

 were produced from the interior of the germinating spores ; 

 and if this be so, it is not impossible that they may be pos- 

 sessed of some feeundative power ; for although there has 

 lately been, perhaps, too great a tendency to consider every 

 small unaccountable vegetable organism as connected with 

 imi^regnation, still, Avith what is now known with regard to 

 the Algse, and what is suspected in the lichens, it is not un- 

 reasonable to suppose that the male sexual organs of fungi, 

 if they exist, will prove to be of a nature somewhat similar 

 to the bodies just mentioned. 



Triposporium (sp. ?) — In fig. 40, I have drawn the fruit 

 of a Triposporium, which occurred in January, 1855, near 

 Bexley, in Kent, upon a small fallen branch. It differs 

 from Triposporium elegans in the colour of the threads and 

 spores, Avhich are olive brown, with a tinge of green, and 

 much darker to the naked eye than those shown in Corda's 

 fig. in the ' Flore Illustree,' tab. x. The branches of the 

 filaments also do not exhibit the bulbous enlargement at the 

 base which is so peculiar a feature in Triposporium elegans. 

 Mr. Berkeley, who, at my request, kindly examined one of 

 my specimens, thought the plant was Tripospo7'ium Ficinusium, 

 Avhich is figured in Sturm^s ' Deutschlands Flora ;' but the 

 spores of T. Ficinusium are of a somewhat different colour, 

 and are not so much elongated, as will be seen by comparing 

 fig. 40 with the plate in Sturm's work. (See Abt. iii, Heft 

 30, fig. 8.) 1 may observe that the tufts of my Triposporium 

 are accompanied by a vast nvmiber of the perithecia of some 

 Sph?eria, the perithecia being surrounded by and embedded 

 in the threads of the Triposporium. It is probable that the 

 spores of the latter may be only a secondary product of the 

 Mycelium of the Sphseria. Unfortunately, the perithecia are 

 barren, so that I have been unable to ascertain the species 

 of the Sphaeria. 



Clonostachys araucaria, Corda, ' Flore Illustree,' tab. xv. p. 

 31. — I have found this mould in my own neighboiu'hood and 

 also in Wales, in both instances forming white patches upon 

 the bark of small twigs. It is remarkable for the pecviliar 

 arrangement of the spores, which form long dense spikes like 

 ears of corn. It is figured also in Bonorden's ' Handbuch,' 

 pi. vii, fig. 155, under the name of Stachylidium araucarium. 

 Corda's specimens appear to have grown upon garden 

 mould, but his description of the habitat is ambiguous. 



Zygodesmus fuscus, Corda, ' Einleitung,' pi. b. 8, fig. 1 ; 

 'Iconcs Fungorum,' vol. iv, fig. 81. — I have found this mould 

 near the Hassock's Gate Station, on the Brighton Railway, and 



