2 14 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



are octosporous, tmd the sporidia are small, hyaline, and 

 cylindrical. In Fracchiaea the perithecia are aggregated upon a 

 sort of stroma like a crust ; the asci, except in one species, con- 

 tain numerous simple hyaline sporidia. Gihbera and Gihheridca 

 have caespitose perithecia, which in the former are persistently 

 setulose, and in the latter soon become smooth ; in both cases 

 the sporidia are septate and hyaline or brown. In the two 

 remaining genera the habit is more typical, the pustules being 

 erumpent ; and in Otthia the sporidia are uniseptate, whilst in 

 Cucurhitaria the sporidia are typically muriformly septate and 

 coloured, whilst in small sul)genera tliey are either continuous 

 or septate and brown. 



The ninth subfamily includes the Su^Krficiales of Fries, in 

 which the perithecia are quite distinct, and superficial or 

 nearly so, aggregated together or scattered. These may be 

 further subdivided into the Byssisedae, Villosae, Bosclliniac, and 

 Sordariae. In the Byssisedae the perithecia are seated upon a 

 byssoid or felted stratum called a subiculum (Fig. 101). The 

 genus Byssosphaeria contains species in which the perithecium is 

 smooth or naked, with the sporidia 

 varying according to the several sub- 

 genera, from simple or continuous to 

 multiseptate or muriform, and hyaline 

 or coloured. In Chactospheria the 

 perithecia are villose, and also seated 

 ,,(f^—^-.^.* ,..,,,;. upon a subiculum. In Villosae there 

 '^'j^^i*' is no subiculum, l)ut the perithecia 



Fig. 101.— Bijssosphaeria, with are woolly, downy, or setulose. The 



section of perithecium, ascus, . . , . . ^ . . 



and sporidia. principal genus IS Lasiosphaeria, m 



which the sporidia are hyaline, or but 

 slightly coloured. In Coniochacta the sporidia are distinctly 

 coloured. In Vcnturia the perithecia are membranaceous' 

 and setulose, growing for the most part on leaves, and 

 the sporidia are oblong and hyaline, continuous or septate. 

 Chaetomium is a genus easily recognised, Ijy its i'ragile 

 bristly perithecia, diflluent asci, and continuous brown 

 sporidia, which are often almond-shaped. Rosellincae almost 

 corresponds to the Deniidatae of Fries, with the perithecia 

 almost or quite superficial, smooth and naked, and mostly 



