SPHiERIA. 



fafc. I. 22. t. 3. f. 3. Perf. n. 4. With. v. 4. 389 — 

 Stalk elongated, flender, fimple or divided, fomewhat com- 

 prefled. Head roundifti, brown. — Found by the late Rev. 

 Mr. Lightfoot, in the woods of the duchefs dowager of 

 Portland at Bulllrode, in autumn, but rarely, growing 

 out of fome dead infeft. The Jn/i was ufually two or three 

 inches high, wavy, (lender, blackilh ; fometimes deeply 

 cloven. HenJs fohtary, globular, granulated, brownilh, the 

 fize of a fmall pea. 



S. oph'wglojfoideu Fibrous-rooted Club Sphaeria. Perf. 

 n. 5. (Clavaria radicofa ; BuUiard t. 440. f. 2. C. para- 

 fitica ; Willden. Berolin. 40J. t» 7. f. 17. With. v. 4. 361.) 



Stalk fimple, yellovvifh, with a branched fibrous root. 



Head oval, turgid, black. — Native of fandy heaths, or fir 

 woods, in autumn. Mr. Pitchford found it near Norwich, 

 many years fince, nor can there be any doubt refpefting the 

 above fynonyms. His fpecimens, like thofe of Willdenow, 

 grew parafitically, on the Tuber cervinum, one or two on 

 each individual, to which they were attached by their long 

 and much-branched fibrous roots. The Jlali, about two 

 inches high, is wavy or curved, roundifh, of a dirty yellow, 

 as well as the root. Head an inch long, when full grown, 

 granulated, of a glaucous black, folid ; pale yellow 

 within. 



S. Hypoxylon. Horned Black Sphaeria. Perf. n. 7. 

 Obf. Mycolog. fafc. I. 20. t. 2.f. I, a,f. Sowerb. Fun^. 

 t. 5 J. (Clavaria Hypoxylon ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1652. Hudf. 

 639. With. V. 4. 369. C. cornuta ; BuUiard t. 180.) — 

 — Cluftered, branched, comprefled ; black and hairy below ; 

 whitifh and dilated at the fummits. — Common on rotten 

 ftumps or polls, in woods and gardens, making a confpi- 

 cuous appearance. Its ufual height is three or four inches. 

 The hairinefs is moll copious and coarfe on young plants. 

 In winter the fummits of the branches are plentifully covered 

 with white powder, but deftitute of the fpherical feed- 

 veffels. The latter, according to Perfoon, are perfefted in 

 fummer. His obfervations contradift the opinion reported 

 by Withering after Dr. Waller, that the prefent fpecies is 

 the male of the following. Indeed that opinion is much in- 

 validated by the aflertion that Clavaria ophioglojfoides of 

 Linnaeus, (fee Geoglossum,) is only a variety of the digi- 

 iata. Such a miftake is no otherwife accountable, than by 

 fuppofing the perfon who made it took the fpecies laft de- 

 fcribed for the Geoglojfum, and even then his accuracy of 

 judgment could not rank high. 



S. digitata. Finger-lhaped Black Sphxria. Sowerb. 

 Fung. t. 69. (S. polymorpha; Perf. n. 10. Clavaria di- 

 gitata; Li:in. Sp. PI. 1652. Hudf. 639. With. v. 4. 

 368. BuUiard t. 220. Lichen-agaricus terreftris digi- 

 tatus niger, &c. ; Mich. Gen. 104. t. 54. ord. 2. f. 4.) 

 — Cluftcred, club-ftiaped, obtufe, tumid, coal-black. Fre- 

 quent on old rotten Humps in beech woods, as well as on old 

 polls of different kinds, into which its long perennial roots 

 deeply infmuate themfelves, the fungus fpringing up every 

 autumn, in the (hape of numerous, fimple or divided, hard, 

 black, rough, finger-hke bodies, whitilh at the fummit while 

 young, and tapering below into very flender ftalks. Per- 

 haps S. digitata, Perf. n. 9, may be a variety only ; but the 

 Linnaean fynonym belongs to what we have defcribed. 



Seft. 2. Roundi/h or diffufe, -without a Jlem. Thirteen 

 fpecies. 



S. concentrica. Concentric Black Spha:ria. Perf. n. 11. 

 Bolt. Fung. t. 180. (S. fraxinea; With. v. 4. 393. 

 Sowerb. Fung. t. 1 60. Lycoperdon fraxineum ; Hudf. 

 641 ; excluding the fynonym of Micheli.) — Roundiih, tu- 

 mid, firm, fmooth, with numerous concentric intenial 

 Jayers. Frequent on the decayed ftumps of Afh, Willow, 



and other trees. Ufually coal-black, fomewhat fhining, in 

 globular maffes, the fize of a chefnut, or larger, and of the 

 fubftance and lightnefs of charcoal. 



S. fragifonnis. Orange Sphaeria. Perf. n. 13. (Lyco- 

 perdon variolofum ; Linn. Syft. Nat. ed. 12. v. 3. 234. 

 Hudf. 645. Sowerb. Fung. t. 271.) — Cluftered, fomewhat 

 confluent, of a rufty red ; black and (hining within. Seed- 

 veflels minutely papillary, in the deciduous coat. — Frequent 

 on rotten branches and ftumps in damp woods. Each plant 

 is the fize of a pea, more or lefs, bright red when young. 

 In an advanced ftate they become confluent, of a brick 

 colour, and the coat, in which the minute feed-veflels are 

 lodged, fcales off, leaving a black central mafs, millaken by- 

 Mr. Sowerby for the feed. 



Seft. 3. Shape roundi/h, but various and indeterminate, 

 Capfules fcattered horizontally, luith prominent orificet, often 

 fpinous. Twenty-three fpecies. 



S. poronia. Dotted Cup Sphaeria. Perf. n. 24. (S. 

 punftata ; Sowerb. Fung. t. 54. Peziza punAata ; Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1650. BuUiard t. 252.) — Stalked; cup-fhaped, 

 fhallow, white in the diflc, with black fcattered funk cap- 

 fules. — Found in fandy countries, chiefly on horfe-dung, 

 rarely on that of cows. It looks like a ftalked Peziza, 

 fcarcely half an inch broad, confpicuous for its white difl{, 

 dotted with the black feed-veflels. The fubftance is firm, 

 or leathery. 



S. deujla. Large Spreading Sphaeria. Perf. n. 25. (S. 

 maxima; Web. Goett. 286. Dickf. Crypt, fafc. i. 23. 

 S. verfipellis ; Tode Mecklenb. v. 2. 55. t. 17. f. 129. 

 Hypoxylon uftulatum ; BuUiard t. 487. f. i. Lichen-agari- 

 cus cruftaceus craflus, bovinum renem veluti reprxfentans, 

 niger et quafi deuftus ; Mich. Gen. 104. t. 54. f. i.) — 

 Broad, indeterminate, thick, wavy and tumid ; at firll grey 

 and powdery ; finally black and rigid. Capfules lunk. — 

 Not uncommon on old rotten Humps, over which it fpreads, 

 to the extent of two or three inches, in thick, diff^ufe, un- 

 equal mafles, finally coal-black, and of the texture of S. con- 

 centrica, (fee the preceding feftion,) with which Hudfonand 

 fome other botanifts have confounded it. The ftiape, how- 

 ever, is not globofe, nor is the internal fubllance formed of 

 concentric layers. The capfules moreover are larger, and 

 very confpicuous in a vertical feftion of the plant, bemg 

 clofely ranged, in a fimple feries, under the external coat, 

 through which their feeds are difcharged by a flender tube 

 belonging to each capfule. — Perfoon remarks, that this 

 fpecies fometimes acquires a kind of ilalk, whew grow- 

 ing on very rotten wood, or on the ground near an old 

 ftump. 



S. ceratofperma. Horn-feeded Sphsria. Perf. n. 38. 

 (S. Ceratofpermum ; Tode Mecklenb. v. 2. 53. t. 17. 

 f. 131. Ceratofpermum nigi'um minimum difcoides, e di- 

 verfarum arborum ramorum emortuarum corticibus, et pra»- 

 cipue corylo erumpens ; Mich. Gen. 125. t. 56. f. i.) — 

 Roundifli, convex, fcattered, black. Capfules with long 

 prominent beaks. — Found by Micheli in woods near Flo- 

 rence, chiefly on dead branches of hazel, in the winter. 

 Tode obferved it in July, on the dead bark of Rofa canina. 

 Each plant is lefs than a fplit pea, feated on the dead wood 

 or bark, under the cuticle, and foon becomes dillinguiflied 

 by the protrufion of numerous little black horn-like ex- 

 crefcences, which appear to be the prominent beaks of the 

 funk capfules. Tode's figures, however, do not precifely 

 accord with thofe of Micheli. We once examined the ori- 

 ginal fpecimens of the latter writer, but the horn-like pro- 

 cefl'es had difappeared ; nor have we met with any thing in 

 England anfwerable to this fpecies, though many which 

 belong to Perfoon's eighth, or laft, feftion are fufficiently 

 4 fimilar 



