Organs of the Verrucariz. 271 
If a vertical section of the apothecium of a Verrucaria having 
unilocular spores be made, a carbonaceous ring is obtained, 
the upper portion of which is internally clothed with a spermati- 
gerous apparatus, whilst the lower portion of the same ring 
bears internally the asci and spores, or the sporigerous appa- 
ratus. In the centre of the upper portion of the carbonaceous 
ring is a small ostiolum, or opening, through which the repro- 
ductive spores issue in maturity. The spermatigerous apparatus 
lines the whole internal surface of the upper portion of the car- 
bonaceous ring, but leaves a vacant space internally, correspond- 
ing to the ostiolum, and hangs on all sides like an expanded 
fringe above the sporigerous apparatus. 
This structure is noticed by M. Tulasne in his “ Mémoire sur 
les Lichens,” in ‘Ann. Sc. Nat.’ sér. 3. vol. xvii. (1852), and 
also, as existing in the genus Spheria, in his subsequent work 
on those Fungi. A similar organization was also discovered by 
Leighton in Endocarpon sorediatum, Hook. See Brit. Ang. Lich. 
p- 18 (1851). 
It may be useful to note the manipulation adopted to obtain 
the very thin section necessary for this investigation. To about 
an ounce of the common stearine of a candle a few drops of 
liquid asphalt were added. A stratum of the liquefied mixture 
was smeared on a small piece of paper, and on this stratum was 
laid the apothecium, which was then covered with another stra- 
tum of the mixture. When consolidated, the mass was removed 
from the paper, and with a sharp razor a very delicate section 
was made, which being placed in a drop of water, was easily 
freed from the asphalt, and made ready for the microscope. 
The microscopical examination of the section so obtained 
showed that the carbonaceous ring consisted of a united tissue, 
which gradually passes from the external hard black carbona- 
ceous stratum to an internal stratum formed of a very delicate, 
white, mucilaginous network containing cells with oily nuclei. 
‘This internal stratum is overspread with a semiorganized sub- 
stance abounding in granulations differing in form and dimen- 
sions according to the species, and constituting that which the 
author names the stratum of the hymeneal corpuscles. Re- 
peated observations showed with certainty that these granula- 
tions or nuclei are destined to become either a sterigmatic tube 
or a sporigerous ascus, according to their position in the upper 
or lower portion of the section. 
The spermatigerous apparatus consists of the stratum of hy- 
meneal corpuscles compressed into a kind of mucous mass, of 
the sterigmatic tubes, and the spermatia. The sterigmatic tubes 
are swollen at the base, and bulbiform at the point where they 
unite with the hymeneal stratum, and comprehend, exactly, in 
