SPH.EROBOLUS. 



SPH-dERONEMA. 



Oomyces. Perithecia erect, several con- 

 tained in a shining 1 sac, free towards the 

 upper part ; ostiole punctiform ; asci linear ; 

 spore filiform, very long. 



Sphceria. Perithecia black, papilla covered 

 by a veil or by the matrix, sometimes beaked, 

 indurated, ostiolate, black ; asci usually 

 eight-spored j spores usually septate, dis- 

 charged as a powder. 



Fig. 655. 



Fig. 656. 



Sphseria elongata. 



Fig. 655. Erumpent lines of perithrcia. Nat. size. 

 Fig. 656. Portion of one in end view. Magnified 20 



diameters. 

 Fig. 657. Asci and paraphyses from a perithecium. 



Magnified 200 diameters. 



SPH^EROB'OLUS, Tode. A genus of 

 Isidularini (Gasteromycetous Fungi), con- 

 sisting of a peridium of several layers, the 

 inner one of which is suddenly reversed, 

 and discharges the globose sporangia. 



BIBL. Tul. Fung. Hyp. t. 21. f. 11 ; Berk. 

 OutL tab. 21. f. 2 ; Cooke, Handb. 412. 



SPH^EROCAR'PUS, Kiitz. = STAUBO- 



CABPUS. 



SPHJEROCAR'PUS, Mich. A genus 

 of Ricciese (Hepatic). S. terrestris (fig. 

 658) is a minute Liverwort growing on the 

 ground, especially, it is said, in clover-fields. 

 The fronds are from 1-4 to 1-2" long, palish 

 green, very thin and membranous, the lower 

 surface adhering to the ground by radical 

 hairs. The middle part of the upper surface 

 bears a quantity of fruits, which consist at 

 first of archegonia and antheridia, like those 

 of other Liverworts, surrounded by a cup- 

 like open pericheete (?), which gradually 

 grows up over the fertilized archegoniurn 

 and closes at the top, so as to form a pyri- 

 form sac, presenting an orifice at the summit. 

 The archegonium ripens into a globular 



sporange, containing spores without elaters, 

 crowned by a curious little styliform process. 

 The spores are discharged by irregular rup- 

 ture. The walls of the sporange are com- 

 posed of simple parenchymatous cells, with- 

 out spiral-fibrous layers. While the spo- 

 range is ripening, the perichaete enlarges 

 into a loose, obconical, green membranous 

 sac, through the thin walls of which the 

 globular sporange is visible (fig. 658). 



Fig. 658. 



Bphaerocarpus terrestris. 



A frond with perichsetes containing sporanges; 



one cut open. 

 Magnified 10 diameters. 



BIBL. Hook. Br. Flor. ii. pt. 1. 103 ; Bis- 

 choflf, Nova Acta, xiii. 150 ; Lindenberp*, ib. 

 xviii. 496 ; Fitt, Hooker's Jn. Sot. 1847, vi. 

 287. 



SPHJSROOOO'CUS, Stackh. A genus 

 of RhodymeniaceaB (Florideous Algas), con- 

 taining one British species, S. coronopifolius 

 (PI. 44. fig. 14), having a flat, linear, 'disti- 

 chously branched frond of crimson colour 

 and cartilaginous texture, of fan-like outline ; 

 parenchymatous, with an internal denser rib 

 and cortical layer; 6 to 12" long. The 

 unper branches have their margins set with 

 minute tooth-like processes, about 1-24" 

 long, in some of which the spherical concep- 

 tacles are imbedded. 



BIBL. Harv. Mar. Alg. 128 j Greville, 

 Alff. Br. pi. 15. 



SPH^EROIDI'NA, D'Orb. A roundish, 

 sublobate, hyaline Foraminifer, near Globi- 

 gerina, but of denser structure, and folded 

 somewhat like a Miliola. Recent and fossil. 



8. austriaca (PI. 24. fig. 4). 



BIBL. Carpenter, Introd. For. 185. 



SPJLEROM'PHALE. A genus of Try- 

 petheliese (Angiocarpous Lichens), nearly 

 related to Verrucaria. 



SPH^ERONE'MA, Fr. A genus of 

 Sphaeronemei (Stylosporous Fun^gi), charac- 

 terized chiefly by the spores which emerge 

 from the pore becoming glued together into 



