224 Prof. G. de Notaris on the Tribe Spheriacez. 
commonly open above. In some species they are provided with 
a thick border or a particular appendage, to which the perithe- 
cium* is attached, in which case the evacuation of the sporidia 
may be effected from the inferior side. If the asci and sporidia 
do not all come to maturity at the same time, it is easy to ob- 
serve all the phases of their development ;—an argument with 
which I shall occupy myself in detail when I come to discuss the 
merit of the fundamental divisions of the whole tribe. 
In only two Spherias, S. profusa, Fr., and S. macrospora, nob., 
I have yet found the asci tetrasporous. In the greater number 
they are octosporous and uniserlate: in very few cases are they 
polysporous. 
The nucleus when constituted of asei only bursts through the 
perithecium in the form of a turbid stream which flows on the 
matrix, or if of a denser consistence, assumes the form of a little 
cirrhus ; a property which, though rare, is even repeated in the 
species which possess asci of longer duration. 
Finally, I expect to be able to draw part of the distinctions of 
the genera from the paraphyses, whenever they offer the character 
of separate organs distinguished from the asci by their filamen- 
tous form and the articulations with which they are interrupted 
at intervals. Under other forms and when inarticulate, they may 
be regarded as asci in a rudimental state, and indeed there are 
many species in which they are totally wanting in the most fully 
developed individuals, Examples of this kind are met with in 
all the species analogous to Spheria herbarum, described in my 
third decade of the Micromycetes, which with its analogues con- 
stitutes a most distinct genus. a 
I have thus indicated the elements which may be made use of 
in the needful reform of the Spheriacee; though I am but a 
gleaner in this vast field, I yet think myself able now, at least 
partially, to propose some very distinct genera, making use— 
I. Of the characters which may be derived from the figure of 
the stroma, if determinate, and of the texture of the perithecium. 
II. Of the properties of the nucleus, the asci and paraphyses. 
II]. And especially of the structure of the sporidia, of their 
number in each ascus, and of the manner in which they are 
dispersed. 
It may afterwards be possible to limit the genera without haying 
recourse to the stroma and perithecia, that is to say, when the 
analysis of the parts of the fructification in most if not all of the 
known species is completed ; and if any reply to me that it is in- 
jurious to science to multiply genera, although founded on im- 
* Observed I believe for the first time by Montagne in 7hamnomyces 
rostratus, P|. Cellul. Exot. 2 cent, Ann. d. Se. Nat. vol. xiii.; and by Corda 
in Sph. Hugelii, leon. Fung. Fase. 4. 
