Sorosporium. i8i 



On Juncus planifolius R. Br. 



Victoria — Near River Loddon (Mueller). Killara, March, 1907. 

 Follett County, Dec, 1907 (Reader). Beech Forest, Dec, 1909. 

 (Brittlebank). 



New South Wales— Centennial Park, Sydney, Sept., 1900 (Chcel). 



Tasmania — Hobart, Dec, 1891 and Jan., 1906 (Rodway). 



The type material of U. marmorata has been examined from the National 

 Herbarium. Berkeley in his original description, does not mention the 

 portion of the plant on which the smut was found. Cooke in his Australian 

 Handbook gives the leaves, while I have found it in the ovaries. I am in- 

 debted to the Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, England, for a specimen 

 of U. muelleriana Thuem. 



Sfore formation. — In a cross-section of the ovary the spore-balls are seen 

 to be developed from the inside outwards, and if the spores were not in balls 

 the species would be taken for a Cintractia. There is a central core of plant 

 tissue consisting of parenchymatous cells together with smaller thick-walled 

 cells. Surrounding this and radiating from it are very slender, delicate, 

 wavy septate hyphae which proceed in strands to the circumference, and 

 pockets are formed between the strands in which the spore-balls are formed. 

 The spore-balls are at first minute and colourless, but gradually increase 

 in size and become olivaceous until on arriving at maturity they are of a 

 ruddy-brown colour. Intermixed with the mature spore-balls and also in 

 the radiating hyphal strands, there are numerous coloiu'less simple spore-like 

 bodies which are ellipsoid, with coarsely granular contents, and generally 

 averaging 9-10 x 5-6 jk. These spore-like bodies may be seen forming in 

 chains in the hyphal filaments, and are probably abortive spores which have 

 never advanced sufficiently to become spore-balls. Berkeley figures these 

 abortive spores in his original article on Uredo piluUformis, and Tulasne in 

 describing this form as Ustilago piluliformis refers to the spores being in 

 clusters. This species is comparatively common on Juncus, but does not 

 appear so frequently on Scirpus. 



(Plate XLII.) 



Zca. 



39. Sorosporium reilianum (Kuehn) McAlp. 



Kuehn, Rab. Fung. Eur. No. 1998 (1875). 



Brefeld, Unters. Gesammt. Myk. V.. p. 9i (1883). 



Sacc. Syll. VII., p. 471 (1888). 



Ustilago reiliana Kuehn. 



Cintractia reiliana (Kuelm) Clint., Bull. 111. Asir. Exp. Sta. 

 No. 57, p. 346 (1900). 



Sphacelotheca reiliana (Kuehn) Clint., Journ. Mvc. VIII., p. 141 

 (1902). 



