272 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



is nearly the same, except that the pustules are always erum- 

 pent, and never superficial, and the sporules are similar in form 

 and size, produced similarly at the apex of short sporophores. 

 The difference therefore is reduced to that of the character of 

 the walls of the cavities in which the sporules are engendered. 

 In the Melanconieae there are definite cavities, heneath the 

 cuticle, which correspond in function to immersed perithecia ; 

 yet these cells have no heterogeneous walls, but are simply 

 modifications of the matrix. In many cases they are distinctly 

 modified so as to appear as pseudoperithecia ; in some there is 

 merely a compact base, formed by the mycelium into a spore- 

 bed, upon which the sporules are developed, and when mature 

 are ejected, in a more or less gelatinous mass, through fissures 

 or orifices in the covering cuticle. The spore-bodies are termed 

 conidia by Saccardo, as they are in the Hyphomyceteae, but we 

 prefer to employ the same term as that adopted in the allied 

 Sphaeropsideae, and distinguish them as sporules. 



The technical definition of the Melanconieae is to the effect 

 that they are Fungi without perithecia or asci, forming sub- 

 cuticular pustules, which are partially erumpent, discharging 

 the sporules through openings in the cuticle, such sporules 

 being produced on a proligerous stratum, growing upon distinct 

 or obsolete sporophores, and either in themselves continuous 

 or septate, either hyaline or coloured. 



The arrangement adopted is similar to that of the Sphaerop- 

 sideae, the primary sections having relation to the character 

 of the sporules. The Hyalosporae include those which have 

 oblong, or shortly cylindrical continuous hyaline sporules, 

 whether solitary on the sporophores or produced in chains. 

 Four genera are indicated in which the sporules are solitary 

 on the sporophores, two being found mostly growing on 

 leaves, and two upon branches. The distinctions between 

 Hainesia and Gloeosporium, which are the two genera that 

 flourish for the most part on living leaves or succulent fruits, 

 are scarcely sufficient, since they resolve themselves into this, 

 that in Hainesia the pustules are brightly coloured, and in 

 Gloeosporium gray, pallid, or dull coloured. Hence we can 

 treat them both as a single genus. These parasites are 

 amongst the most destructive with which the horticulturist 



