HORSE-HAIR BLIGHTS. 
59 
either. The Xylaria was included on Plate VII. in the belief 
that the mycelium pertained to it, but this has not been 
substantiated. 
General Conclusions. 
The species which constitute the section Sarmentosi of 
Marasmius are characterized by the possession of a black 
creeping mycelium from which the agaric arises. In the 
Insititii a mycelium of normal structure runs within the leaf 
or twig, and the stalk of the agaric pierces the outer layers 
of the matrix and emerges through a distinct hole. But both 
Marasmius equicrinis and Marasmius obscuratus demonstrate 
that these two sections are not mutually exclusive. M. equi- 
crinis clearly belongs to the Sarmentosi when it develops 
on the aerial mycelium, and when the tangle falls to the 
ground it may still retain the same habit ; but, in addition, 
the mycelium breaks up into individual hyphæ when traversing 
the interior of a dead leaf, and the stalk then bursts abruptly 
through the epidermis, in which case it belongs to the Insititii. 
If the tangle is cut from the bush and kept moist in a glass 
dish, both types occur at random. In the case of M. obscura- 
tus, the majority of specimens which have been grown from 
tangles similarly treated have been Insititii. The fact that 
the same fungus may fall into both sections is not new. 
Marasmius rotula, which Fries classed among the Insititii, 
sometimes arises from a blackish creeping rhizomorphic 
mycelium ; and it was placed by Morgan among the 
Sarmentosi. And Theissen has recorded that M. trichorrliizus 
Speg. arises either from rhizomorphic mycelium or inde- 
pendently from twigs. 
N OMENCLATURE . 
Comparison of the Ceylon species with the Sarmentosi 
recorded from other parts of the Tropics is attended with 
considerable difficulty, especially when descriptions only are 
available, because the latter have been described from pilei 
developed upon the aerial mycehum, and in that situation 
thej/ are frequently so minute that an accurate description is 
impossible. Only when the mycelium falls to the ground is a 
fully-developed pileus produced, and from that situation it has 
