460 42. CERATOSTOMA FIMBKIATUM. [CL. XXIV. 



case it remains a Xyhma, (Aiil. ii. 17.) Otherwise small 

 spherules, of a black colour, and scarcely distinguishable 

 by the naked eye, arise during harvest on these spots. It 

 sometimes happens, especially with regard to hazel leaves, 

 ^ that single spherules project above the common layer. These 

 pass into stiff, straight rostella, thick above, about a line in 

 length, and of the fineness of a hair, between which and the 

 spherule, a white, membranaceous rim, resembling a ruffle, 

 stands in a circular form. This rostellum is not the peristome, 

 which in the Sphaeria supplies the place of the operculum of 

 the Mosses, but it is a continuation of the perithecium ; 

 {Fries. Ohs. Myc. 2. 318, 319.) The spherule contains the 

 germ-sacks, which are club-shaped, nearly pellucid bodies, 

 filled with eight fine grains. But what purpose does the 

 white rim of the rostellum serve ? Batsch thought that it 

 was the reflex interior cellular membrane, which opinion I do 

 not assent to. But Rebentisch's idea is more probable, name- 

 ly, that it is the remainder of the epidermis of the leaf, and 

 disappears in spring. 



This species cannot be confounded with others, because 

 the above-mentioned rim is not found in any other species. 

 In other respects it is nearly related to C. 'pulchellum and 

 cornutum. 



Synonymes find Figures, 



Sphgeria spiculosa, Batsch, El Fung. 1. p. 273. t. 30. f. 1S2. 



Sph. Coryli, lb, % p. 131. t. 32. f. 231. 



Sph. Carpini, Hofm. Veg. Crypt 1. t. 1. f. 1. Timm. Fl 



Megap. p. 279. 

 Sph. fimbriata Pers., Obs. Myc. 1. p. 70. Syn. p. 36. Alb, 



et Schwein. Fung. Niesc. p. 17. Rebentisli, Neom. p. 329. 



Schultz, Fl Starg, p. 425. Mart Fl Crypt Erlang, 



p. 479. 



Ceratostoma fimbriatum, Fries, Obs, Myc. 2. p. 340. 



