328 'introduction to ceyptogamig botany. 



catenate, there are many septa. Some of these productions, 

 such as the lower Sporidesmia and Gonioihedwrn, are scarcely 

 autonomous, but it has not yet been discovered to what true 

 species they belong. The constant union of Sporoschisma and 

 an Helminthosporium, seems to point to dualism (Fig. 74<, a). 

 In this case the endochromes of the threads adhere toge- 

 ther in little packets, and escape from their ruptured ends 

 exactly as in some species of Calothrix and other allied Algse. 

 In two or three genera the spores form more or less perfect 

 spirals. Spiloccea is the only one which affects living tissues. It 

 is common on apples, forming the black specks which are occa- 

 sionally multiplied so much as to make them unsaleable. This 

 genus is, however, a mere degeneration of Clcidosporium, a 

 genus which has several truly parasitic forms. Few of the species 

 have at present occurred in tropical realms ; but this is perhaps 

 less from their actual absence than from their not attracting 

 notice. Echinobotrys has been sent me by Lieut. Hobson 

 from Bombay; and as it seems to occur on the threads of 

 several Fungi, I am inclined to think that it is rather of the 

 nature of pycnidia, a secondary fruit, than an autonomous 

 plant. Though I have often found it in England, it has never 

 been in such a state as to afford any satisfactory solution of its 

 real character. One of the most obscure species, Sporides- 

 mium Lepraria, gave occasion to some observations of consi- 

 derable interest at the time, as making it probable that Sir 

 John Franklin's party, after leaving Beechy Island, had gone 

 in the direction of Wellington Channel. The details wLU be 

 formd in a report to the Admiralty, on some fragments of 

 wood picked up in that direction, which is printed in Suther- 

 land's Journal.* The course actually pursued before the loss 

 of the ships is, however, still as obscure as ever, and the infe- 

 rences there derived may still be true. 



4. Phragmotrichiacei, Gorda. 



Subcutaneous. Perithecium irregular or obsolete. Spores 

 generally cellular or septate, in moniliform threads. 



353. We have here the first indication of a perithecium, 



* Journal of a Voyage in Baffin's Bay in 1860, 1851, Hook. Journ., 

 vol. v., p. 33. 



