266 CURREY, ON THE REPRODUCTIVE 



1. Sphceria herbarum Pers. — This very common but beau- 

 tiful SphcBria is to be found abundantly in spring in the form 

 of small black specks upon the dead stems of herbaceous 

 plants. About the beginning of March in the present year, 

 I observed that the dead stems of some plants of Senecio 

 Jacohosa were covered with a Fungus, the perithecia of which 

 formed minute black spots so small as not to be visible with- 

 out close inspection. In Plate XII., fig. 1, one of these peri- 

 thecia is represented with its mycelium magnified 110 dia- 

 meters, and fig. 2 represents a transverse section of a similar 

 perithecium, the interior being filled with small spore-like 

 bodies proceeding from the somewhat-pointed cells which 

 lined the cavity of the perithecium. According to the prin- 

 ciples of classification hitherto adopted, the plants would 

 have belonged to the genus Sphceropsis ; but being desirous of 

 ascertaining whether it might not in fact be only an early 

 state of some other Fungus, I placed some pieces of the dead 

 stems upon damp Sphaynum moss, and covered them with a 

 bell-glass. In about a fortnight I found the under surface of 

 the stems {i. €., that part of them which had lain in contact 

 with the damp moss) covered with a crop of small black 

 SphcBrice. There was, therefore, some reason for supposing 

 that the Sphceropsis was only a predecessor of the Sphcerice ; 

 but as there were three, if not four, different species* of the 

 latter, it would have been impossible to determine to which of 

 them the Spharopsis belonged, had it not been for the form of 

 the mycelium. In examining the Sphceropsis, I had particu- 

 larly observed its mycelium, which was unusually large com- 

 pared with the size of the perithecium, and had moreover the 

 peculiar knotty appearance shown in figs. 1 and 2. Upon 

 comparing this mycelium with that of Sphceria herbarum, the 

 two appeared identical ; and as the same mycelium was not 

 to be seen in connection with the other Sphcerice, it seems 

 fair to conclude that the supposed Sphceropsis was the sper- 

 mogonium of Sphceria herbarum. The question then arises 

 whether the spermogonium in this case be a distinct organ on 

 the same mycelium, or whether the same perithecium pro- 

 duces in the first instance the spermatia, and subsequently 

 the perfect fructification, that is, asci containing sporidia. In 

 the j^cidia, as we have seen, the spermogonia are quite 



* The species appeared to be the following : — Sphceria comata, capil- 

 lata, herbarum, and complanata. I doubt if the two former are distinct ; 

 I found the sporidia precisely alike, and the only difl'erence was in the 

 colour of the hairs on the perithecia, which were black, or nearly so, in 

 S. comata, and greenish in »S'. capiUatd. The difference in the colour of 

 the hairs would hardly justify a separation of the species. 



