340 Notes on Parasitic Ascomycetes. [Sess. 



were affected with Nectria aureola Wint., a minute pale- 

 yellow pyrenomycete, which occurred as a parasite on the 

 threads of the mycelium ; and that the same parasite was 

 found upon the Meliola at Salzburg by Winter, who first 

 described both fungus and parasite in the year 1885. 



Asterina is represented by A. veronicce (Lib.) Cke., which 

 frequently occurs on the leaves of the common speedwell 

 {Veronica officinalis), where it forms dark spots consisting of 

 radiating threads, upon which minute perithecia are produced. 



In the genus Ca'pnodium the perithecia are rarely devel- 

 oped. They are described as "simple or branched, cylin- 

 drical ; mouth narrowed, and often torn or fringed ; asci elon- 

 gated; spores 3-4 septate or muriform, coloured."-^ Three 

 species may be noted — viz., G. salicinum Mont, which 

 occurs on leaves of willow ; G, quercinum (Pers.) Berk. & 

 Desm., on leaves of oak ; and G. Footii Berk. & Desm., on 

 leaves of rhododendron, cherry-laurel, holly, ivy, and other 

 evergreens. Although very seldom producing perithecia, these 

 fungi are common in their conidial state. In that condition 

 they form on the leaves a densely felted mass of much- 

 branched and interwoven hyphse, glued together into a thin 

 pellicle by a layer of somewhat gelatinous cells, which also 

 cements the pellicle to the leaf. This membranous coating is 

 entirely superficial, and often peels off and breaks away in 

 detached portions. The conidial condition of G. Footii, and 

 probably of some other species, is known as Fumago vagans 

 Pers., and forms a somewhat sooty or carbonaceous coating 

 very commonly occurring on leaves of evergreens. The 

 species of Gapnodium are not now regarded as true parasites, 

 but their life-history is as yet only very imperfectly known. 



At this meeting Mrs Carphin, honorary member, com- 

 municated a brief but interesting paper on " Allurophobia " — 

 i.e., fear and dislike of the cat. To quote from this paper : 

 " The awful sense of horror inspired by the presence of a cat, 

 seen or unseen, is impossible to describe, and must be felt to 

 be understood. . . . This affection is hereditary, though all 

 the members of a family are not usually affected by it. One 



1 Massee, 'Diseases of Cultivated Plants and Trees' (1910), p. 165. 



