Notices of British Fungi. 513 



more normal structure so immediate in S. subulatum, I think there 

 can be no reasonable doubt about it. Were, however, the filaments 

 but free to the base in S. blepharistoma, and by consequence the 

 mass of sporidia collected in a globule at their centre, we should 

 have a fungus belonging to the Coniomycetes, and indeed only speci- 

 fically distinct from Psilonia rosea and hyacinthorum, Berk. Whe- 

 ther the structure in other species of Sphseronema is at all the same, 

 I have no means of ascertaining, as I have never met with any in a 

 recent state. 



Perithecia scarcely exceeding half a line in height, often much 

 more minute, transparent, of a very pale yellow, varying greatly in 

 form, but in general more or less inflated at the base, occasionally 

 conico-subulate, often confluent, mostly furnished with a long dis- 

 tinct slender neck, the orifice of which is fringed with a single row 

 of distinct filaments, which are indeed the apices of those of which 

 the perithecium is composed. Sporidia oblong, obtuse or subtrun- 

 cate, much larger than in Sp. subulatum, flowing out and forming 

 about an elongated subpersistent pale-yellow globule. 



Tab. XV. Fig. 4. a. portion of gill of Ag. adustus, with S. blepharistoma, nat. 

 size ; b. do magnified ; c. single perithecium ; d. orifice and sporidia ; e. 

 orifice and sporidia of S. subulatum, all highly magnified. 



* 58. Phacidium coronatum, Fr. Obs. i. p. 167. — This species 

 has been often figured, but I cannot find anywhere an accurate ana- 

 lysis. The figures of Ditmar and Dr Greville are both defective 

 from two low a magnifier having been used. Dr Greville, indeed, 

 only indicates the presence of paraphyses, and figures a very few 

 minute elliptic sporidia in the asci. In Ditmar's figure the para- 

 physes are distinctly drawn, and the sporidia are more numerous. 

 The latter even under a low power is the more correct ; with a mag- 

 nifying power a little superior, the sporidia appear to be distributed 

 in short lines, and the paraphyses flexuous ; but when highly mag- 

 nified the granules are found to be sporidiola, arranged six or seven 

 together in linear sporidia, and the paraphyses curled round at the 

 tips, like the apices of the filaments in Helicosporium, but not as in 

 that genus septate. It is probable that a still higher power might 

 show septa between the sporidiola. I find the structure precisely 

 the same, whether the plant is produced on beech or oak leaves, and 

 in specimens that have been dried for the herbarium. 



Tab. XV. Fig. 5. a. asci and paraphyses of Phacidium coronatum; b. sporidium, 

 both highly magnified. 



