70 Transactions British Mycological Society. 
fossil fungi belonging to this family. Mucrothyrites disodilis 
Pampaloni (1902, I, p. 251; 1902, 2, p. 127, Pl. XI, fig. 1) occurs 
in the disodil of Melilli, Sicily, probably of Middle Miocene age. 
From Pampaloni’s description, an affinity with the Microthyria- 
ceae is quite possible, but the illustration leaves much to be 
desired. The material is said to consist of simple, scattered, 
shield-shaped perithecia, composed of polygonal concentric cells, 
and there is no reference to spores or mycelium. Altogether 
the record seems rather doubtful. 
Engelhardt and Kinkelin (1908, p. 185) record a few leaf- 
fungi from the Upper Pliocene of Klarbecken near Frankfurt- 
am-Main, and among them one which they refer with a query 
to a living species, Asterina Ilicis Ell., on leaves of Ilex. They 
describe circular thyriothecia (sometimes concrescent), 80—g0 pu 
in diameter, with a crenate margin and a central ostiole when 
mature. Their drawing certainly closely resembles a Micro- 
thyriaceous fruit-body, and they state that an affinity to Asterina 
is indicated by the presence of a free mycelium (‘‘ Luftmyzel’’), 
which however is not figured. They further record similar fruit- 
bodies on Buxus leaves, but smaller, with an entire margin, and 
without any free mycelium. Krausel (1920, p. 338, text-fig. 7, 
P- 353) describes some similar bodies from the Miocene of 
Silesia, about 70 in diameter, found associated with Sequoia 
langsdorfit leaves, and apparently connected with hyphae. They 
are regarded as probably belonging to the Microthyriaceae. In 
neither of these cases were any spores found. 
“Hyphae and haustoria of an Asterina-like fungus” occur on 
the cuticle of Sequoia langsdorfii from Tertiary beds (exact age 
’ unknown) of Ellesmere Land, lat. 77° N., and are described and 
figured by Nathorst (1915). The resemblance to the mycelium 
and stigmopodia of Asterina and other allied genera is certainly 
very striking. It is interesting to note that this fungus was 
discovered in the same way as Phragmothyrites eocaenica and 
the fungi described by Krdusel, by chemical treatment of a 
coniferous cuticle, and the preservation of the mycélium suggests 
that had P. eocaenica possessed a persistent mycelium it would 
also have been preserved. 
The identification of the host plant presents some difficulties, 
but it is best referred to provisionally as Pityophyllum sp. 
(a name used for fossil coniferous leaves of uncertain affinity). 
A somewhat similar conifer, Podocarpites campbelli (Gard.), is 
a common fossil at Mull, but the leaves are usually larger and 
more acuminate. The scattered leaves of the present specimen, 
as shown in Text-fig. 1, may be compared with a figure of 
Podocarpus suessionensis Wat., given by Crié (1878, Pl. VII, 
fig. 32) of a specimen from the Eocene of Sarthe, but here again 
