Coprophilous Fungi . 343 
S. decipiens, Wint., Deutsch. Sordar. 92, Taf. IX, f. 16 (1873); 
Sacc. Syll. Fung, i, 235 (1882). 
Hab. — On Rabbit-dung, Kew, Dec. 1900; on the dung of Giraffe 
(1 Camelopardalis giraffa ), Mexican Deer ( Cariacus mexicanus), and 
Sinaitic Ibex ( Capra sinaitica ), Kew, Dec. 1900. 
The Kew examples are very interesting on account of the variation 
shown in the number of spores in the ascus. S. decipiens has been 
described by all authors as having 8-spored asci ; in some of the Kew 
examples, however, perithecia occurred in which all the asci contained 
sixteen spores. It was quite clear, moreover, that the same species, 
viz. S. decipiens , was under observation, as in one perithecium, from 
another gathering on Rabbit-dung, two asci each containing sixteen 
spores were present among the normal octosporous ones. In Saccardo’s 
‘ Sylloge ’ only the species of Sordar ia with four and eight spores in 
the ascus are included under that genus, the species with ‘poly- 
sporous ’ asci (i. e. asci containing sixteen or more spores) being 
removed to another genus, Philocopra. Such specific variation as 
that recorded above shows the artificiality of genera founded merely 
on the number of spores in the ascus. 
S. stercoraria (Sowerb.). 
Sphaeria stercoraria , Sowerb., Brit. Fung., t. 357 (1803). 
Hypocopra stercoraria , Sacc. Syll. Fung, i, 244 (1882). 
An examination of the type specimen at Kew shows that in this 
species the spores, which are elliptical and laterally compressed, and 
surrounded by a layer of mucilage, measure 45-60x22-38^. The 
measurement — ‘ 30 n long ’ — given by Saccardo, therefore, requires 
correction. 
S. coprophila (Fr.), Ces. and De Not. 
Sphaeria bovilla, Cooke, Handb. Brit. Fung., ii, 874, Fig. 394 (1871). 
Bovilla Capronii , Sacc. Syll. Fung, ii, 360 (1883). 
The Fungus called by Cooke Sphaeria bovilla has been made by 
Saccardo the type of a new genus Bovilla. Examination of Cooke’s 
material (now in the Kew Herbarium) shows, however, that the 
Fungus is merely the immature stage of Sordar ia coprophila. The 
genus Bovilla , being founded on this single specimen, must therefore 
be abolished. 
Delitschia moravica, Niessl. (Fig. 18). 
D. moravica , Niessl., Notiz. Pyren. 47, Taf. IV, f. 22 (1876); Sacc. 
Syll. Fung, i, 733 (1882) ; Wint. in Rabenh. Krypt.-Fl. Deutschl., Bd. i, 
