[Pboc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 35 (N.S.), Pt. II., 1923.] 



Art. XV. — Additions to the Australian Ascomycetes. No. /. 



By ETHEL McLENNAN, D.Sc, and ISABEL COOKSON, B.Sc. 



(With Plates IX., X., and 1 Text Figure.) 



[Read 9th November, 1922.J 



This paper contains an account of several new Victorian Ascomy- 

 cetes. The Australian forms of this group have so far not received 

 very much attention from botanists, and although several fungal papera 

 have appeared, these deal mainly with the Basidiomycetes of this 

 country. Cooke, in the introduction to his "Handbook of Australian 

 Fungi," remarks on the small number of Discomycetes and Pyrenomy- 

 cetes recorded for Australia, as compared with other countries. The 

 authors hope from time to time to record and describe new members 

 of these groups in a series of papers under the above heading. 



I. — Sphaerosoma alveolatum, sp. nov. (Plate IX.). 



Corpore fructigero cervicaliaceo, colore modo atro-fusco moda 

 nigro, -5-1 cm. diam. sessili. Hymenio perperidium limitato. Ascis 

 cylindricis 40^ diam. cum iodino caeruleis. Sporis octo globularibus 

 slibfusicis, alveolatis 34-36^ diam. Paraphysibus clavatis subinde 

 ramulatis. 



Fruiting body cushion-like between fleshy and cartilaginous, dark 

 brown to black, viscid, 0.5-1 cm. in diam., and from 1.5-2 mm. high, 

 sessile, with a broad attaching base, hymenium limited by a peridium, 

 internally dark, pseudoparenchymatic. Asci cylindrical, clavate, iOjx 

 diam., and 300-400^x long, blue with iodine, operculate. Spores 8 

 globular, light brown, uniseriate, irregularly alveolate, 34-36^ diam., 

 26-28^x without the wing. Paraphyses not exceeding the ripe asci, 

 clavate, septate, often branched. 



On open clayey or sandy soil, near Castlemaine, Vic, and at 

 Ringwood, near Melbourne, Vic. (I. Cookson). August and Septem- 

 ber, 1821. 



The plants are mostly scattered, varying in size, with a broad 

 basal attachment, and are not easily detached from the substratum. 

 They are usually rounded in outline, occasionally slightly lobed, the 

 convex upper surface giving to the plant a cushion-like appearance; 

 this surface is nearly always smooth, but sometimes it is slightly 

 convolute. Plants are dark coloured, even when young, and almost 

 black in the adult condition; when moist they are viscid and shining. 

 Internally they are also dark coloured; the hymenium does not cover 

 the entire outer surface of the plant, but is bounded at its extremities 



