2i 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



are octosporous, and the sporidia are small, hyaline, and 

 cylindrical. In Fracchiaea the perithecia are aggregated upon a 

 sort of stroma like a crust ; the asci, except in one species, con- 

 tain numerous simple hyaline sporidia. Gibbera and Gibberidea 

 have caespitose perithecia, which in the former are persistently 

 setulose, and in the latter soon become smooth ; in both cases 

 the sporidia are septate and hyaline or brown. In the two 

 remaining genera the habit is more typical, the pustules being 

 erumpent ; and in Otthia the sporidia are uniseptate, whilst in 

 Cucurbitaria the sporidia are typically muriformly septate and 

 coloured, whilst in small subgenera they are either continuous 

 or septate and brown. 



The ninth subfamily includes the Superficiales of Fries, in 

 which the perithecia are quite distinct, and superficial or 

 nearly so, aggregated together or scattered. These may be 

 further subdivided into the Byssisedae, Villosae, Roselliniae, and 

 Sordariae. In the Byssisedae the perithecia are seated upon a 

 byssoid or felted stratum called a subiculum (Fig. 101). The 

 genus Byssosphaeria contains species in which the perithecium is 

 smooth or naked, with the sporidia 

 varying according to the several sub- 

 genera, from simple or continuous to 

 multiseptate or muriform, and hyaline 

 or coloured. In Chaetospheria the 

 perithecia are villose, and also seated 

 upon a subiculum. In Villosae there 

 is no subiculum, but the perithecia 

 Fig. 101.— Byssosphaeria, with are woolly, downy, or setulose. The 



section of perithecium, ascus, ■ • 1 7- • 2. ■ - • 



and sporidia. principal genus is Basiosphaena, m 



which the sporidia are hyaline, or but 

 slightly coloured. In Coniochaeta the sporidia are distinctly 

 coloured. In Venturia the perithecia are membranaceous 

 and setulose, growing for the most part on leaves, and 

 the sporidia are oblong and hyaline, continuous or septate. 

 Ghaetomium is a genus easily recognised, by its fragile 

 bristly perithecia, diffluent asci, and continuous brown 

 sporidia, which are often almond-shaped. Bosellineae almost 

 corresponds to the Denudatae of Fries, with the perithecia 

 almost or quite superficial, smooth and naked, and mostly 



