I860.] CHAPTERS ON FUNGI. 297 



The leaves attacked by this parasite wither, and become yellow 

 or dingy-brown, before their time ; and the presence of the Fungus 

 is marked on the upper side of the leaf by scattered spots, of a 

 brownish or blackish colour. On the under side of the leaf the 

 spores ooze forth in the shape of tendrils, and form little white 

 masses, which dissolve, on being placed in water, into numerous 

 oblong, slightly curved spores, which are generally 3- or 4-sep- 

 tate, but sometimes only appear filled with a grumous mass. 



Suborder 3. Melanconiei. 



In this division the spores ooze forth from the receptacle — for 

 there is no real perithecium — and often form black stains on the 

 plant (or substance) on which they grow, or, in other cases, glo- 

 bules or tendrils of various colours. Many of the supposed species, 

 however, have been of late ascertained to be merely states of other 

 Fungi. 



I take as an example the genus Ceuthospora. 



Ceuthospora. 



Stroma innate, containing one or more nuclei. Spores minute, 

 escaping from the dissolving nucleus. 



Ceuthospora Lauri, Sow. Cherry-Laurel Ceuthospora. Uni- 

 locular, brownish-black, obtusely conic, splitting into 3-4 acute 

 erect lacinise. — Grev. Sc. Crypt. Fl. t. 254. 



On dead leaves of Prunus Lauro-Cerasus. Not uncommon in 

 winter and spring, forming little black spots with a whitish centre 

 and growing indifferently on either side of the leaf affected. The 

 spores, which are very minute, and of an oblong-cylindrical shape, 

 escape from the contained nucleus on the application of moisture. 



Suborder 3. Phragmotrichiacei. . 



A small group, with an irregular or obsolete perithecium, and 

 spores generally arranged in moniliform threads, the joints of 

 which separate when mature. 



There are few British representatives of this suborder, and the 

 structure of some of them is rather anomalous, as in some in- 

 stances apparent asci, containing the spores, are observed. This 

 is the case in the curious Bloxamia truncata described by Messrs. 

 Berkeley and Broome in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History.' 



N. S. VOL. IV. 2 Q 



