Studies in Entomogenous Fungi. T. Petch. 99 
fructification usually predominates, and the stilboid form, if 
present, is generally small. Desmaziéres stated that the clava 
was scarcely 0-5 mm. high. In the specimen, Desmaziéres, 
Plantes Cryptogames de France, Ed. 1, Ser. 1, No. 1350, in 
Herb. British Museum, the synnemata are clavate, or conical, 
or flattened pulvinate; the clavate and conical examples are up 
to 0-6 mm. high, and 0-3 mm. diameter; the flattened pulvinate 
examples are up to 0-6 mm. diameter. In Sphaerostilbe flammea, 
Ellis, North American Fungi, No. 1333 (issued as Nectria sub- 
coccinea Sacc. and Ellis), the synnemata are conical, 0-35 mm. 
high, 0-25 mm. diameter at the base, or flattened pulvinate, up 
to 0-5 mm. long, 0:25 mm. broad. 
The sheath in the temperate forms differs from that in the 
tropical examples in that the»teeth tend to divide above into 
separate hyphae. In some instances, however, the sheath forms 
a thin membrane which persists after the dispersal of the conidia. 
An example in Erbar. Crittogam. Ital., Ser. 1, No. 542, from 
which all the conidia had disappeared, consisted of a short stalk 
o-Imm. diameter, surmounted by a membranous cup about 
o-Imm. high, no hyphal structure being discernible in the 
membranous edge. 
Another point of difference lies in the relative development of 
the conidia and the conidiophores. In the tropical forms, 
conidia are produced abundantly and there do not appear to 
be any barren conidiophores or paraphyses: the outer part of 
the head is a mass of conidia. In the temperate forms, on the 
other hand, conidia are sparingly produced, and very many of 
the conidiophores appear to be barren. Desmaziéres noted that 
the conidia occurred among the filaments and were few in 
number, and in some pulvinate examples in his specimens, the 
barren (?) filaments are so numerous towards the exterior, that 
the fructification has a distinct white margin. The conidia too 
are less perfectly developed in the temperate examples. Neciria 
aurantticola in the tropics has conidia with well-defined septa, 
while in Microcera coccophila, the septa tend to be obscure. But 
the conidia of Nectria auranticola from Italy, have obscure and 
irregularly arranged septa. 
No criteria have been found by which it would be possible 
to distinguish with certainty between the Mzcrocera stages of 
the different species of Sphaerostilbe parasitic on scale insects. 
It is necessary to have examples which have developed the 
perithecial stage. 
Of the species which have been described as Microcera, Micro- 
cera Parlatoriae Trabut, Microcera curta Sacc., and Microcera 
Tonduzii Pat. are Fusarium, Microcera Fujikurot Miyabe and 
Sawada and Microcera Merrillit Syd. are Pseudomicrocera. 
7S 
