SPILEROCARPUS. 



[ 586 ] 



SPII^ERONjEMA. 



Fig. 658. 



Fig. 659. 



Xylaria grammica. 



Fig. 658. Nat. size. 



Fig. 659. Horizontal section. Magnified 5 diameters. 



Fig. 660. 



Fig. 661, 



Sphseria elongata. 



Fig. 660. Erumpent lines of perithecia. Nat. size. 

 Fijj. 66l. Portion of one in end view. Magnified 20 



diameters. 

 Fig. 662. Asci and paraphyses from a perithecium. 



Magnified 200 diameters. 



SPILEROCARPUS, Kiitz. = STAURO- 



CARPUS. 



SPH^ROCARPUS, Mich. A genus of 

 Riccieae (Hepaticaceae). S. terrestris (fig. 

 663) is a minute Liverwort growing on the 

 ground, it is said especially 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. 



Fig. 663. 



Sphserocarpus terrestris. 



A frond with perichsetes containing sporanges ; one cut 

 open. 



Magnified 10 diameters. 



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 

 perichaete (?), which gradually grows up over 

 the fertilized archegonium and closes at the 

 top, so as to form a pyriform 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 dis- 

 charged by irregular rupture. The walls of 

 the sporange are composed of simple paren- 

 chymatous cells, without spiral-fibrous layers. 

 While the sporange is ripening, the perichsete 

 enlarges into a loose, obconical, green, mem- 

 branous sac, through the thin walls of which 

 the globular sporange is visible (fig. 663). 



BIBL. Hook. Brit. Flor. ii. pt. 1. p. 103; 

 Bischoif, Nova Acta, xiii. p. 150 ; Linden- 

 berg, ibid.xvm. p. 496; Yitt, Hooker's Journal 

 ofBot.vi. p. 287(1847). 



SPILEROCOCCUS, Stackh. A genus 

 of Rhodymeniaceae (Florideous Algae), con- 

 taining one British species, S. coronopifolius, 

 having a flat, linear, distichously 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 upper branches have their 

 margins set with minute tooth-like processes, 

 about 1-24" long, in some of which the 

 spherical conceptacles are imbedded. 



BIBL. Harv. Brit. Mar. Alg. p. 128. pi. 

 16 B; Greville, Alg. Brit. pi. 15. 



SPELERON.EMA, Fr. A genus of 

 Sphaeronaemei (Coniomycetous Fungi), cha- 

 racterized chiefly by the spores which emerge 



