202 



The Fungi of Wiltshire. 



Tho greater number of the species contained in the division 

 Sphooronemei are now considered to be merely second forms of fruit 

 of other Fungi, and an interesting question arises, viz., to what 

 species each pertains ; they are for the most part connected with 

 species of the genus Sphceria, but further observation is wanted to 

 determine the relations of each individual. 



Pucciniei and Cceomacei include a multitude of plants of the 

 greatest importance to agriculture. Rust and Mildew are parasitic 

 on living plants. Unger considered them as merely diseased states 

 of the cellular tissue, a notion however, which is long since aban- 

 doned. "Wheat, and other cereals, are always more or less affected 

 by these pests, and before the practice of steeping seed-corn in 

 solutions of sulphuric acid, &c, became general, whole crops were 

 rendered uneatable by the presence of Bunt, Tilletia caries. M. 

 Tulasne has published a very interesting account of these Fungi 

 in the Annales des Sciences. The genera are numerous, and afford 

 beautiful objects for the microscope. Puccinia graminis is the 

 Mildew of Wheat. But more intractable than the Bunt, this 

 species has not yet yielded to any remedies. 



ORDER XII. SPHCERONEMEI. 

 Perithecium more or less distinct. 



Genus XCY., Coniothyrium Cd. Perithecium membranaceous, 

 bursting irregularly, transversely. 



Genus XCYL, Leptostroma Fr. Perithecium membranaceous, 

 flat, breaking of at the base. Spores simple, minute. 



Leptostroma caricinum Fr., Spye Park, on sedges. 



Genus XCYIL, Phoma Fr. Perithecium punctiform or subglobose, 

 often spurious, or incorporated with the matrix, discharging the 

 minute simple spores by a small orifice at the apex. Spores mostly 

 hyaline. 



Phoma Sambuci JDesm., Spye Park, on elder. 



sticticum Desm., ditto on box. 



Genus XOYIIL, Leptothyrium Kze. Perithecium flat, at length 

 breaking off at the base. Spores cylindrical oblong, or irregu- 

 lar. 



