CEYLON FUNGI. 
333 
187. — Fracchiæa Broomeiana (Berk.), 
Sphæria Broomeiana was described by Berkeley in Hooker’s 
London Journal of Botany, VI. (1854), p. 231, from Ceylon 
specimens. In Saccardo, Sylloge, I., p. 106, it was listed as 
Coronophora Broomeiana. No spore measurements were given. 
In Notices of North American Fungi, Grevillea, IV., p. 47, 
Berkeley subsequently described Gucurhitaria brevibarbata 
B. & C., which was included in Saccardo, Sylloge, I., p. 94, 
with a query, as Fracchiæa brevibarbata. In Grevillea, XX., 
p. 113, Cooke stated that Fracchiæa brevibarbata ‘‘ was found 
on Acer rubrum in South Carolina, on bark in Ceylon, and on 
Rhus copallina, Santee Canal, S. Carolina.” In the cover of 
Fracchiæa brevibarbata at Kew is a specimen from Ceylon, 
labelled ^'Sphæria Broomeiana Berk. Ceylon G. H. K. T., 
Sept. 10, 1850.” This is the type of Coronophora Broomeiana. 
Evidently Cooke considered Coronophora Broomeiana to be 
identical with Fracchiæa brevibarbata. 
Fracchiæa brevibarbata was figured and re-described by 
Berlese (leones Fungorum, III., p. 27, pi. XXXV., fig. 2) as 
‘‘ Perithecia in greges par vos cæspitose collecta, globoso 
depressa, sed sæpius mutua pressione difiormia, str ornate 
crustaceo, elfuso vel vix pulvinato insidentia, subinde etiam 
breviter stipitata, rugoso-aculeata, aspera, nigra, super- 
ficialia, J-J mm. diam. ; asci late clavati, longe et abrupte 
stipitati, 110-120 X 14-18, parte sporifera 55-65 et stipite 
45-65 ^ long., polyspori ; sporidia allantoidea, 6-7 X 1*5-2, 
hyalina.” He stated that he had examined specimens from 
the original collection sent to him by Cooke. 
Sphæria Broomeiana, according to the type specimen, has 
globose perithecia, about 0*5 mm. diameter, clustered in 
groups of about a dozen, forming small pulvinate heaps. They 
are in some cases flattened above, with a minute conical 
ostiolum. The surface is echinulate, with short conical spines 
up to 32 ^ high, 10 ^ diameter at the base, which bear minute 
projections along their sides. The asci are clavate, poly- 
sporous, the sporiferous part measuring 75-100 X 15-20 pi, 
with a tapering pedicel 36-50 ^ long. The spores are cylindric, 
curved, greenish-hyaline, 5-7 X 2 The species is evidently 
Fracchiæa, and will stand as Fr. Broomeiana, 
