512 Notices of British Fungi. 



Veronica officinalis, King's Clitf'e. The analysis given by Desma- 

 ziere exactly accords with my own observations. 



57. Sphccronema blepharistoma, n. s. Berk. Brit. Fung. Fasc. 3. 

 ined. — On the blackened gills of Ag. adustus in very wet weather, 

 King's Cliffe, September 1836. This species is not onlv in itself 

 extremely well marked, though at first easily regarded as a depau- 

 perated state of Sphaeronema subulatum, but it is especially inte- 

 resting on account of its peculiar characters, which throw light upon 

 the real structure of that species. Dr Greville remarks, that in 

 Sph. subulatum, the perithecium, previous to maturity, contains the 

 sporidia mixed with a gelatinous pulp and a few filaments, which be- 

 ing evacuated along with the sporidia, were very obvious in several 

 specimens he dissected. That the filaments, however, are not dis- 

 charged with the other contents of the perithecia, I have complete- 

 ly satisfied myself, by induction first, and then by ocular demonstra- 

 tion, but that they originate on the outer surface of their tips, and 

 are in fact the free apices of the fiocci, of which the perithecia are 

 composed. This appears very clearly to be the case on comparison 

 with the species represented in the accompanying plate, in which 

 the perithecium is made up of a single circle of filaments, whose 

 bases are soldered together, and whose free apices form a beautiful- 

 ly ciliated orifice ; whereas in Sphseronema subulatum, there being 

 many circles of filaments, the orifice is furnished with a pencil-like 

 tuft of filaments. In this case, however, if I mistake not, the ori- 

 fice itself is not ciliated as represented in the figure ; at least I have 

 not seen it so. The filamentous structure of the perithecium in S. 

 blepharistoma is easily traced almost to the base ; in S. subulatum 

 the filaments in each circle being more numerous and finer, and the 

 perithecium not made up of a single circle, the substance is much 

 thicker and denser, and its filamentous structure more obscure. In- 

 deed, had it not been for the discovery of the present species, I should 

 have still regarded the filaments as rejected from the perithecium, 

 though with a degree of uncertainty about the matter, such as is in- 

 timated in my observation on the species in the English Flora. It 

 is to be observed, that the structure of either is scarcely to be ascer- 

 tained with accuracy, except from fresh specimens. S. blepharisto- 

 ma at present has occurred only on Agaricus adustus ; S. subulatum 

 is found on various Agarics and Boleti. A question may be raised 

 whether fungi so constructed belong properly to the division Pyre- 

 nomycetes ; as the texture of the species before us, at least, is not 

 strictly speaking vesiculoso-floccose. When, however, the uterine 

 character is taken into account, and the visible advance toward the 



