58 
FETCH : 
ring of projecting hairs. A variety occurs in which the stalk 
and pileus are golden brown. 
Mamsmius coronatus : — Pileo hemisphærico, vel late con- 
vexe, vel piano, usque 1 cm. diam.; centre nigro, depresso, 
umbonato, fibrillis patulis circumdato ; alibi brunneo-albido, 
fibrillis radiatim dispositis, ultra marginem productis, ornate ; 
lamellis albis, confertis, liberis, subventricosis ; stipite 4-7 cm., 
alto, 0*25-0*5 mm. diam., æquali, nigro, crinibus adpressis, 
albidis vestito ; sporis albis, anguste ovalibus, subinequi- 
lateralibus, 7-9 x 4-5 pi.. 
Undetermined Species. 
Another species of horse-hair blight which occurs fairly 
commonly in the jungle at Hakgala has not yet been deter- 
mined. It is usually found on the bark of living trees, ascend- 
ing to a height of 40 or 50 feet. It is closely applied to 
the bark, sometimes running along the fissures, the vertical 
strands being united by lateral branches, so that the bark is 
covered with a network of black rhizomorphs. When it 
reaches the crown of the tree it runs more loosely along the 
twigs and freely among the foliage from leaf to leaf, forming a 
tangle similar to that of M. equicrinis. Less frequently 
it is found overrunning low bushes, and in these cases it is 
apparently parasitic, the hyphæ of the adhering cushions 
penetrating into the tissues of the plant. 
The rhizomorphs are black, glabrous, angular, and somewhat 
flattened and twisted, from 0*2-0 *4 mm. broad; the 
diameter is not uniform, but varies considerably within a 
short distance on the same strand. The mycelium is reduced 
to a fine thread at its extremity. 
Up to the present the fructification has not been obtained. 
Twigs with attached mycelium have been kept under suitable 
conditions at Peradeniya for more than a year, but, though the 
mycelium has covered the soil of the pot in which it was kept 
with a black network, it has not produced any sporophore. In 
the field a Marasmius has been found sparingly, and a Xylaria 
in large quantity on the débris of the crown of a tree infested 
with this mycelium, which had been felled. But there is as 
yet no evidence of any connection of the mycelium with 
