98 Transactions British Mycological Society. 
converge, and form a pointed tip at the apex of the stalk 
(Plate- III, fig. 5). In some instances, there are a few erect 
fascicles of hyphae, arising from the stroma, surrounding the 
base of the stalk. 
The hyphae of the sheath are united here and there by ladder- 
connections, i.e. short junctions perpendicular to the hyphae 
(Plate V, fig. 16). These ladder connections are, however, 
much more common, and more easily found, between the un- 
branched bases of the conidiophores. They were noted by the 
Tulasnes. 
The head, normally, is ovoid, but frequently it is curved into 
a hook, or produced into a point often perpendicular to the 
stalk. The latter form is, in a sense, accidental. The conidia 
do not fall off, or blow away, but remain united in a mass by 
some soluble substance. The fungus grows on scale insects 
attached to branches, as a rule, and consequently is most 
generally perpendicular to the branch. But as the branch is 
often erect or oblique, the mass of conidia bends downwards 
by its own weight, and thus may become perpendicular to the 
stalk. The occurrence of dozens of synnemata on the same 
branch, all with their heads curved in the same direction appears 
most remarkable until the reason is perceived. 
The conidia of Microcera (Plate V, fig. 10) are typically 
narrow-cylindric, or fusoid, nearly straight with falcate tips, 
60-120 » long, 5-8 » diameter, up to eleven septate, the ends 
subacute, the distal end being rather more obtuse than the 
proximal. Sometimes they are quite straight, and sometimes 
slightly and uniformly curved. r 
The species of Microcera on scale insects are orange red and 
subtranslucent when fresh, and become brownish red, hard, 
and horny when dry. When placed in water, the head expands 
and the outer conidia float off. The synnemata generally arise 
from a very narrow stroma round the scale; this stroma is 
tomentose, and, if of any considerable thickness, is composed 
of interwoven hyphae. 
In addition to the stilboid form, reduced forms occur in all 
the known species of Microcera. These may be clavate, with a 
barely recognisable stalk, or quite sessile, flattened pulvinate, 
circular or oval in plan, usually seated on the narrow stroma 
at the margin of the scale (Plate III, fig. 2). These sessile forms 
may occur together with the stilboid form, or a gathering may 
consist entirely of either kind. The sessile fructifications are 
composed of closely packed conidiophores, which arise almost 
directly from the basal stroma; they are surrounded by a sheath 
similar to that of the stalked forms. 
In the forms from temperate countries, the sessile form of 
