169 



THREE INTERESTING ASCOMYGETES. 



By W. B. Grove, M.A. 



(Plate 485.) 



1. Dasyscypha canescens Mass. F. F. iv. 346. (Fig. 1.) 

 Lachnella canescens Phil], Disc. 259. 

 Peziza canescens Cooke ex Phill. I. c. 



Some specimens of this Discomycete, which I found in March 

 on dead wood at Studley, presented a very peculiar appearance 

 under a lens, on account of their hoary aspect. With a low power 

 of the microscope this was seen to be due to numerous brown 

 hairs, many of which bore at their tips an amorphous shining- 

 white mass, which recalled the crystals of oxalate of lime borne on 

 the hairs of D. ciliaris, with the exception that the lumps were very 

 irregular in shape and size. 



Under a higher power these masses were found to consist, not 

 of crystals, but of a number of fusiform conidia, and many similar 

 hyphae were seen on the surface of the surrounding wood, bearing 

 the same masses of conidia, and presenting the appearance of a 



species of Acrotheca. 



The following is a description of the fungus, drawn up from my 

 specimens : — 



Cups rather crowded, 1^-1 mm. across, sessile, at first globose, 



then hemispherical and flattened ; disk at length nearly plane, dull 



brown, edge slightly elevated ; exterior densely pilose, with flexuose 



brown hairs, paler than the disk; hairs cylindrical, septate, pale 



brown below, paler upwards, slightly swollen and nearly hyaline 



above the upper septum, crisped when dry, often inclined at the 



tip, averaging 100 x 4 /x ; many, especially round margin of cup, 



bore at the faintly denticulate apex a shining-white irregular mass 



about 15-20 /x thick, consisting of fifteen to thirty conidia. Asci 



cylindrical, 60 x 5 /x, apex rounded ; paraphyses slightly longer, 



70 /x, hyaline, lanceolate, apex very acute, 3-31 /x thick at widest 



part; spores biseriate, hyaline, oblong-fusoid, about 11-12 X 2 /x, 



showing a tendency to become uniseptate. 



Acrotheca canescens Grove. — Hyphae as above. Conidia 

 hyaline, oblong-fusoid. somewhat acute at the ends, 10-12 x 3/x. 



It will be seen that the conidia were almost exactly like the 

 ascospores, differing only in being rather stouter, and not present- 

 ing, so far as seen, any appearance of a septum. The hyphre 

 which grew upon the neighbouring wood were more thickly scat- 

 tered, and sometimes shorter, but otherwise extremely similar to 

 the hairs of the cup. 



Of the connection of the conidia with the Dasyscypha there 

 cannot be the slightest question, as the hairs of the cup on which 

 they grew were undistinguishable from the other hairs that clothed 

 it, and were seen to rise from the cells of the excipulum. The 

 number of cups found presenting this phenomenon was several 



Journal of Botany. — Vol, 45. [May, 1907.] o 



