2 H. MARSHALL WARD. 



sooty patches on many and various plants in the tropics, and presents, 

 roughly, a similar appearance to the masses of Capnodiurn or Fwniago 

 sometimes observed in European woods on the leaves of living plants. 



Though, according to Bornet, several species must have been known 

 under different names to the earlier botanists, the name established 

 by Fries, and published in his revised system, was accepted by Mon- 

 tagne and L6veille and has persisted since : Berkeley, in England, has 

 referred to the group in his ' Cryptogamic Botany,' and has described 

 several species from the tropics in various papers. 



The habit of these fungi, and the fact that no true Erysiphe had 

 been found among the collections of travellers in the tropics, led Fries 1 

 to insist strongly on the known or supposed analogies between the 

 two genera, and, Bornet following Fries, the Meliolas have thus come 

 to be regarded as replacing the Erysiphes in tropical countries — as, 

 in fact, " representative species." Bornet added several facts to those 

 already known concerning the coarser anatomy of the group ; but even 

 his excellent and systematic memoir left large gaps in the knowledge 

 of important details, and practically nothing was known of their 

 development or of the formation of their " fruit-bodies." These and 

 other gaps I hope to fill up to at least a large extent in the present 

 essay. 



The appearance of this fungus, as presented to the unaided eye, 

 is much the same as that offered by Asterina and similar forms, and 

 the reader may be referred to a recently published drawing of that 

 fungus for a tolerably accurate idea of it. 2 The chief difference is 

 that the black maculae presented by well developed plants of Meliola 

 are more decided and thicker than those of Asterina ; all transitions 

 are found, however, and, as with many other forms of epiphyllous 

 Pyrenomycetes, it is impossible to detect exactly what fungus is present 

 by a superficial examination. 



The fungus Meliola may be conveniently considered as composed 

 of a mycelium, which supports appendages and perithecia, and which 

 arises from spores developed within the asci of the latter. Bornet 

 considered the " receptacle " as an equally important and distinct con- 

 stituent, but this is perhaps unnecessary, since, as will be shown, the 

 so-called receptacle can only be looked upon as a more or less acci- 



1 ' Sunraia Vegetabilium,' p. 406: "Genus in foliis tropicis vulgatissimurn ut Erysiphes 

 in terris temperatis.' 



a Quar. Journ. Micr. Sc, October, 1882, plate 27, figs. 1 and 2. See also Bornet's 

 beautiful figures, Ann. des Sc. Nat., ser. iii., t. xvi., plates 21 and 22. 



