378 Rev. M.J. Berkeley and Mr. C. E. Broome on British Fungi. 



not visible, but there are merely a few creeping flocci at the base 

 of the perithecia ; these gradually increase in number, so as at 

 length to form a thin dark stratum. The species may however 

 be recognized in any state by the fusiform spores, the middle 

 joint of which is swollen. Besides the true paraphyses, there are 

 jointed threads in the perithecia resembling the flocci on some 

 slimy Agarics. 



Plate XI. fig. 27. a. Asci ; b. sporidia in various stages of growth. 



641. S. (Caulicolse) semilibera, Desm. PI. Crypt, no. 1787. 

 On dead reeds, Bristol, II. 0. Stephens, Esq. 



Rather a large form of the species, but such as might be ex- 

 pected on a larger matrix, a circumstance always worthy of atten- 

 tion in this genus, as may be seen in the difference between the 

 same species when growing on a twig, or that luxuriating on a 

 thick bough. The form of the spores is the same. Desmazieres' 

 plant is on Bromus sylvaticus, but it also grows on Dactylis glo- 

 merata or Triticum sativum. 



*S. scirpicola, Dec. Fl. Fr. ii. p. 809. Besides the common 

 form on Scirpus, we find Desmazieres' var. Typharum on Typha, 

 and one similar to it on some Carex. In all, the sporidia are ob- 

 long, somewhat curved, triseptate, with the articulations slightly 

 swollen. 



*S. maculans, Sow. t. 394. f. 9. Maculis orbicularibus parvis 

 griseis ; peritheciis sparsis subglobosis, ostiolis punctiformibus ; 

 sporidiis oblongis elongatis curvulis 6-7-septatis. On Scirpus 

 lacustris. 



This species, which was considered in the ' English Flora ' as 

 a form of S. scirpicola, we now propose as a species under its 

 original name, being characterized, in addition to its outward 

 appearance, by the sporidia being very much longer and with 

 more than twice the number of septa. 



S. maculans, Desm. no. 1784, is totally different. 



*S. herbarum, P., var. glumarum. Peritheciis subglob mil 

 ostiolo papillaeformi vel obscuro ; ascis clavatis obtusis sporidiis 

 biseriatis fusiformibus curvulis uniseptatis cellulosis. On wheat 

 chaff, Batheaston, Jan. 1850. 



Perithecia minute, subglobose, furnished with a more or less 

 visible papillseform ostiolum. Asci large, clavate ; paraphyses 

 longer than the asci, flexuous. Sporidia biseriate, yellow-brown, 

 consisting of two apposed cones the border of which is twice 

 constricted, each division containing as seen laterally four cells, 

 so that twenty-four cells are visible in each sporidium. 



"We were at first inclined to think this distinct from S. herba- 

 rum, but we have since seen the sporidia of undoubted S. h&'ba- 

 rum formed on the same principle. 



