548 
ME. F. CrEEEY OX THE FErCTIFICATIOX 
kinds of spores. This latter has been admitted to be a case of double fructification, and 
tliere seems no reason to doubt that the instance above recorded must be classed in the 
same category, and that the Steganospoiium spores must henceforth be considered as a 
secondary fruit of Splmria vestita. 
The perfect fruit of the Sphaeria, i. e. the sporidia which are produced in the asci in the 
interior of the perithecia, are of an oval shape, mth transverse and longitudinal or oblique 
septa, somewhat irregular in number and position. Fig. 16 Plate XXV. represents an 
ascus with sporidia in its interior, and fig. 17 some free sporidia. In this, as 1 believe to 
be the case in many if not most Sphaeriae, the sporidia appear to increase in size after their 
escape from the ascus. The smaller ones (fig. 16) were drawn from fresh specimens in 
which the asci were only just matured, and measured j^ g -gth of an inch in length ; the 
larger ones (fig. 17) from a dried specimen in the Hookerian herbarium, in which the 
asci were completely absorbed. These latter measured jA^th of an inch in length. 
5. Sphwria fragiformis, Pees. — There is a peculiar state of this Sphaeria of not unfre- 
quent occurrence, in which the base of the puhinate stroma is surrounded on all sides 
by a small pale brown arborescent growth, having the appearance of being parasitical 
upon the Sphaeria. 
This state is figured by Sowerby, who, mistaking the unripe stroma of the Sphaeria 
for a species of Lycoperdon, gave it the name of I/ycoperdon acariforine. It is men- 
tioned also in the ‘ English Flora,’ where it is suggested that the groAvth in question is a 
species of Isaria parasitical upon the stroma of the Sphaeria. I have long suspected it 
to be an essential part of the Sphaeria itself, but it was some time before I was able to 
find specimens in a state favourable for examination. Dimng the last autumn (1856) 
some such occurred in the neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells, which enabled me to 
verify rpy previous suspicions. The stroma of Spliceria fragifonnis is covered in its early 
stage with a veil of dense cellular tissue of a rusty brick-red colour, which disappeai's as 
the Sphaeria ripens. If a specimen be taken covered with its veil and accompanied by 
the supposed Isaria, and a very thin vertical section be made passing through the stroma, 
the veil, and one of the Isariae, it will be seen, on examining it with a sufficient magni- 
fying power (about 200 diameters), that the threads which form the Isaria are m fact 
the outljdng portions or ragged edge of the mass of cellular tissue which constitutes the 
veil. In fig. 18 («, 5), some of these threads are drawn as they appeared under a mag- 
nifying power of 415 diameters ; these are barren, and have nothing remarkable in their 
structiu’e. Fig. 18 [c) shows some fertile threads similarly magnified, which it null be 
seen produce at their summit small heads of minute cellules arranged something in the 
manner of the spores of a Botrytis, and which must be considered as a conidioid form of 
fruit of Splmria fragifonnis. These cellules are elliptical, colourless, and very minute. 
6. Splmria salicina, Pees., and Coniotliecnim Amentacearum., Coeda. — The latter 
Fungus IS exceedingly common upon the branches of Willows. It appeal's to the naked 
eye in the form of small, round or iiTegular patches of black powder, which leave a sooty 
mark upon the fingers when touched. The microscope shows that these patches are 
