24 
ON CEMETOPHOMA. 
By M. C. Cooke. 
A small group of minute fungi have undoubtedly presented 
themselves in the experience of most mycologists, similar, if not 
identical with those of the present communication. These insig- 
nificant plants have been thrown aside as unworthy of attention, 
because, as most probably is the case, they are not autonomous. 
At the outset we must confess, unreservedly, that we do not regard 
them in any other light than as the pycnidia, or bodies of a similar 
value, of some higher and unknown forms. The only good purpose 
which can be served by attaching names to such organisms is to 
afford a definite means for their identification, so that hereafter 
they may the more readily be referred to the species of which they 
are but a simple condition. Such records may in the future help to 
elucidate the life history of plants now imperfectly known. By 
themselves the species which compose such genera as Septoria. 
Phylfosticta, Phoma, Sphceropsis , Tubercularia , &c., are of little 
interest or value ; but when we are enabled to associate them un- 
doubtedly with other fungi, as simple conditions, or accessories, 
they acquire a value in proportion as they lose their distinctive 
name. With this explanation we may proceed to the bodies in 
question. 
Somewhat allied to Phoma , but quite distinct from that genus, 
there are a number of species , as we shall for the present designate 
them, which possess a delicate membranaceous perithecium, some- 
times globose, sometimes flask- shaped and sometimes elliptical or 
cylindrical, which are entirely superficial, that is, not immersed in 
any matrix, but usually seated upon, or amongst an intricate byssus 
of ramifying threads. It is very usual to meet them in company 
with some CJadosporium or Macrosporium. It is true that they may 
prove to be the pycnidia of the species of Spliceria of which the 
Cladosporium , or the Macrosporium , are the conidia ; but it will 
not serve the purposes of science to guess at their function until 
the facts are established, since there is even a possibility that they 
may be parasites upon the threads with which they are found 
associated. 
These membranaceous perithecia contain a very large number of 
minute simple spores which are expelled, at least in some instances, 
in a long tendril from the apex, either through a cleft or generally 
a pore or ostiolum. In some features they resemble very minute 
species of Phoma , but they are certainly not good members of that 
genus, they form a very natural group in themselves with various 
features in common, and would constitute a far more natural and 
distinct genus than many of the new genera of Sphceriacei now in 
vogue. Coniothyrium is another genus for which they have some 
affinity, but, as that genus is now being understood, they would 
