Petch . — Mocharas and the Genus Haematomyces . 407 
layer of as ci. The stroma consists of a dense brown cortex, about 100 
thick, succeeded internally by paler tissue, or by alternate zones of hyaline 
and brown tissue. This tissue shows numerous lines which appear to be the 
walls of partially disorganized hyphae. These walls run irregularly for 
a short distance, usually strongly and closely flexuose, and are then lost in 
the general mass. But the general arrangement of these walls is concentric, 
and parallel to the outer surface. 
Surface sections show that the exterior is composed of large, more or 
less polygonal cells, but as these do not appear in the cross-section they are 
evidently very thin, or have collapsed. 
Embedded here and there in the internal tissue are the wide, obovate, 
vesicular asci noted by Berkeley and Broome. These may reach a length 
of 1 00 ijl and a breadth of 40 or 50 //. They contain a varying number of 
subangular bodies, which are sometimes arranged in a row, but more usually 
lie in a group on one side of the cell, and occupy, as stated by Berkeley and 
Broome, only a very small part of it. 
It will be evident that this structure is not that of the Bulgarieae, and 
that, if it were a fungus, Haematomyces would have to be classed perhaps in 
the Plectascineae. 
On staining with cotton blue in lactic acid, the whole of the tissue 
turns pale blue, but it does not swell up to any marked extent. But on 
staining with iodine, the apparent spores stain black and are evidently starch 
or amyloid grains. This immediately renders it improbable that the obovate 
bodies are asci, and that the specimen is a fungus. 
On considering the matter further, it occurred to me that Haematomyces 
spadiceus was not rare, but was to be found in abundance at Peradeniya. 
Moreover, I had frequently examined it, without ever suspecting that it 
might have been mistaken for a fungus. Fortunately, fresh material 
happened to be available at the time, and an examination of it confirmed 
the idea suggested by the type specimen. 
An Exudation from Bombax malabaricum. 
One of the most conspicuous trees at Peradeniya is the Bombax ( Bombax 
malabaricum , DC.), the red cotton tree, and most visitors to Peradeniya 
remember the row of giant trees which borders the road from the station to 
the Botanic Gardens, especially if they have passed that way in the early 
part of the year when the ground is covered with its large, red, shuttlecock- 
like flowers. The tree is a rapid grower, and its -wood is brittle. Con- 
sequently its huge limbs are frequently wrenched off by the wind, and, as 
they are of little use except for firewood, they are left lying until they begin 
to decay. As seven trees of the row referred to stand along the frontage of 
my garden, I have had several opportunities during the last twelve years of 
observing the changes which take place in the fallen branches. 
H h % 
