from the Northumhcrland Coal-field. 223 



parti culai'ly tlicir Lulbous enlargements, all agree very -svell 

 with Avliat we ol),servc in these peculiar bodies. But there is 

 one important difference: while, in the unicellular fungi, the 

 tubes never sink deep into the substance in which they are 

 lodged, ramifying immediately bcloAV its surface, those of the 

 lenticular bodies, though they are connected with the peripheiy, 

 permeate the entire mass. Our recent investigations, how- 

 ever, compel us to the conclusion that the whole, including 

 the substance in which the tubes ramify, is but one organism, 

 and that it is a fungus of a jDCculiar nature, related a])parently 

 in structm'e, and to some extent in form, to Sclerotiuin stipi- 

 tatum, a very curious and abnormal species from India, de- 

 scribed by Messrs, Berkeley and CuiTey in the ' Transactions 

 of the Linnean Society' (1862, vol. xxiii. pp. 91 & 93). The 

 internal structure of this living species is so similar to that of 

 some of the coal-fungi in cpiestion, that, Aveie it fossilized, it 

 would assuredly be considered one of them. " The mass con- 

 sists," says the He v. M. J. Berkeley, " of very iiTcgular, 

 swollen, and sometimes constricted, more or less anastomosing 

 and more or less densely compacted threads." These words 

 might be used to describe the iixbcs oi Archa(jarico7i conglo- 

 meratnm, one of our fossil fungi described in the sequel. 



We have in our possession a section of Sclerothnn stipi- 

 tatiwi, and, after carefully examining it, we can find no im- 

 portant difference distinguishing it from sections of our coal- 

 iungi. The irregular character of the tubes, their nodular 

 enlargements, and the large terminal A'csicles are all features 

 that are found in both the recent and fossil species. And, 

 moreover, many of the larger "threads " or tubes in Sderothim 

 sfijn'tatuni can be seen abutting with their ends against the 

 dark peripheral cuticle, just as the tubes do in the fossil spe- 

 cies, the bark or cuticle of Avhich is similar in definition and 

 thickness, and is also dark and opaque*. 



On examining sections of these lenticular fungi from the 

 coal-shale, we find that they occasionally appear to be almost, 

 if not entirely, homogeneous, and that, when perfect, they al- 



* Since the above was written, wo have obtaiuod from Xewshani a 

 very interesting specimen of our new fungus, with tlio surface in excellent 



f [reservation. ^^ e have stated in the text that traces of surface-reticu- 

 atiou had been observed ; in this new specimen the whole surface is 

 covered with a minute angular reticulation, sharply defined by grooves, 

 and resembling most closely the cuticular reticulation represented in the 

 ligures oi Sclirotiitin sti/>it(itiini illustrating the paper of Messrs. IJerkeley 

 and C'urrey already referred to ; so that in general form, in this peculiar 

 suiface-reiiculatioii, in the thickness and character of the cuticle, and iu 

 internal structure our fossil fungi agree with this peculiar species from 

 India. 



10* 



