Tk Transactions British Mycological Society. 
and it would certainly appear preferable to employ the names 
of species which have been more accurately defined, viz. 
Sphaerostilbe flammea Tul., Sphaerostilbe aurantucola (B. and 
Br.), and Sphaerostilbe coccidophthora (Zimm.). 
The three species of Sphaerostilbe parasitic upon scale insects, 
though undoubtedly closely allied, may be distinguished by 
the following characters. 
Sphaerostilbe flammea Tul. Perithecia* usually caespitose on 
a well-developed stroma, bright orange red, glabrous, globose, 
collapsing centrally; ostiolum minute, conical or inconspicuous; 
ascospores 12-19 x 5-8. 
Sphaerostilbe aurantiicola (B. and Br.). Perithecia usually 
scattered without evident stroma, dark red, subtranslucent, 
conoid, glabrous or with a few yellow granules, collapsing 
laterally; ostiolum papillate; ascospores 9-14 x 4-6 p. 
Sphaerostilbe coccidophthora (Zimm.). Perithecia usually scat- 
tered on a slight stroma, dark red, covered with yellow granules, 
conoid or subglobose, subtranslucent, collapsing laterally; os- 
tiolum papillate; ascospores 13-22 x 7-9 p. 
In Microcera coccophila, the conidia are more often fusoid and 
straight from tip to tip than in Microcera aurantucola; the 
typical conidium of the latter, and of Microcera coccidophthora, 
is almost straight with falcate tips. In Microcera auranticola, 
the septa of the conidia are usually more strongly defined than 
in Microcera coccophila or Microcera coccidophthora. 
Berkeley and Broome described the perithecia of Nectria 
aurantiicola as ‘“‘in stromata erecto sitis,’ and they gave a 
figure illustrative of that. Their description and figure are 
supported by a specimen ex Herb. Broome in Herb. British 
Museum, which shows that the erect stroma is a Microcera 
synnema. Parkin, in his figure No. 9, showed the perithecia 
situated in two instances on the stalk of the synnema. That, 
however, is not the usual mode of occurrence of the perithecia 
in Nectrvia aurantiicola and it is exceptional, even in Broome’s 
specimen. In the most general case, the perithecia occur on 
scale insects which do not bear the conidial stage. When they 
occur in company with the conidial stage, they do sometimes 
occur on the stalks of the old synnemata, and developing peri- 
thecia may also be found in the head among the conidia. But 
out of about twenty Ceylon gatherings, I have only one in which 
they occur in those positions No. 542, Erbar. Crittogam. Ital., 
Ser. 1, issued as Sphaerostilbe coccophila, also bears developing 
perithecia on the synnemata. 
The Tulasnes figured Sphaerostilbe flammea with developing 
perithecia on the synnema. The type specimen of Nectria 
laeticolor B. and C. which is Sphaerostilbe flammea has perithecia 
