252 FUNGI. 



obscure that we doubt its existence, and hence the closer affinity 

 of the plant to the Perisporiacei than to the Sphceriacei. The 

 interior of the perithecium is occupied by a gelatinous nucleus, 

 consisting of elongated cylindrical asci, each enclosing eight 

 globose hyaline sporidia, with slender branched paraphyses. A 

 new genus has been proposed for this and another similar form, 

 and the present species bears the name of Orbicula cyclospora.* 

 The most singular circumstance connected with this narrative 

 is the presence together of- four distinctly different species of 

 fungi, all of them previously unknown and undescribed, and no 

 trace amongst them of the presence of any one of the very common 

 species, which would be supposed to develop themselves under 

 such circumstances. It is not at all unusual for Sporocybe 

 altemaia, B., to appear in broad black patches on damp papered 

 walls, but in this instance not a trace was to be found. What 

 were the peculiar conditions present in this instance which led 

 to the manifestation of four new forms, and none of the old 

 ones ? We confess that we are unable to account satisfactorily 

 for the mystery, but, at the same time, feel equally unwilling to 

 invent hypotheses in order to conceal our own ignorance. 



* " Handbook of British Fungi," vol. ii. p. 926, No. 2,789. 



