ORGANS OF CERTAIN FUNGI. 269 



If, on the other hand, the function of the sperniatia is not re- 

 productive but sexual, or impregnative, we still have three dis- 

 tinct forms of fruit, viz., the sporidia contained in the asci 

 (see fig. 9),* and the two forms of conidia (figs. 3 and 5), 

 which grow directly from the mycelium. 



2. Sphceria ? complanata, Tode.^ This Sj)hceria is as com- 

 mon as the preceding one, growing abundantly in spring upon 

 the dead stems of umbelliferous plants. The spermogonia, or 

 rather spermatiferous perithecia, are shaped like a dome, with 

 a pointed conical ostiolum. They are distinguishable from 

 the ascigerous perithecia by their full, rounded appearance, 

 the latter being depressed or collapsed, affaisse, as the French 

 say. 



It would hardly be possible in this case to prove directly 

 that the spermogonia and perithecia proceed from the same 

 mycelium. In the ^cidia, which grow upon the soft parts 

 of plants, it is possible by maceration and careful dissection 

 to obtain ocular demonstration of the occurrence of the sper- 

 mogonia and perithecia upon the same mycelium ; but this 

 cannot be effected with the hard, dead stems of Umbellifers, 

 and the proof of the connexion between the spermogonia and 

 perithecia must therefore be sought for in other evidence. 



Nov; I found both in the spermatiferous and ascigerous 

 perithecia some peculiar-shaped organisms, the nature of 

 which I am at a loss to conjecture. These bodies consist of a 

 stem, crowned by three cellular, sometimes septate, prolonga- 

 tions, with a seta on either side. One of them is represented 

 at fig. 11, which will give a better idea of them than any 

 written description. But irrespective of these curious pro- 

 cesses which, occurring as they do in both the spermatiferous 

 and ascigerous perithecia, seem to point to a connexion 

 between the latter, I found in one instance the spermatia 

 and asci, contained in the same perithecium, a direct proof that 



* The asci and sporidia of Sphcfria herharum vary much in size. In 

 fig. 9 are represented two extremes. In the one the ascus is short and 

 broad, and the sporidia fill the whole of it. In the other the ascus is 

 much elongated, and the sporidia, which are smaller, are collected at the 

 upper end of the ascus. I find the latter form the most frequent. 



t I am doubtful whether I have named this Sj^ha-ria rightly. I find 

 two plants, in which the perithecia are precisely alike, both answering the 

 description of Sphceria complanata, but the sporidia are widely different. 

 In fig. 10 I have represented an ascus, with sporidia, of the plant to which 

 the above observations relate. The asci of the other Sphart'a are narrower, 

 and the sporidia are curved, acuminate at each end, triseptate, with a 

 swelling at the second joint. The description of the sporidia of S. comj^Ia- 

 nata, given iu the Annals of Natural History under S. v}od(:»ta, does not 

 accord with that in the English Flora, where the sporidia are said to be 

 ohloruj-cjliptic. 



