348 Massee and Salmon. — Researches on 
Sphaeria fimetaria, Rabenh. Herb. Myc., ed. i, nr. 1733. 
Perithecia densely gregarious, small, 140-175 /u. in diam., subglobose 
with a minute papilliform ostiolum, wall membranous, parenchymatous, 
composed of rather distinct cells up to 10/x wide; asci numerous, 
shortly cylindrical, usually slightly curved, 60-75 X I 3 -I 5 narrowed 
below into a very short stalk, 8-spored, spores arranged parallel to 
each other, forming a single bundle in the ascus, narrowly long- 
cylindrical, 48-50 x 4 /*, i5-i8-celled, segments readily separating, 
middle segments broader than long, 2*5 n long, two end segments 
about 4*5 fx long. 
Had. — On Cow-dung, Aboyne, Scotland (Herb. Berk.). (Distrib. — 
Europe : Germany, Italy ; N. America : U. S. A., South Carolina ; 
on Cow-dung.) 
£. fimetaria is one of the most distinct species of the genus, and is 
at once recognized by the parallel arrangement of the long, narrow, 
many-celled ascospores, which are collected into a single fascicle in 
the ascus. The fungus described under the name ‘ Sporormia fimetaria , 
De Not/ by Schroeter in Cohn's Krypt.-Fl. Schles. is evidently, from 
the characters given, specifically distinct from the present plant. The 
examples of * 9 . fimetaria from the United States (Aiken, S. C., Ravenel, 
nr. 2263) are in the Kew Herb., and agree exactly with the European 
plant. 
S. minima, Auersw.; Sacc. Syll. Fung, ii, 124 (1883). 
Had. — On dung of Giraffe ( Camelopardalis giraffa ) and Dorcas 
Goat ( Capra dorcas), Kew, Dec. 1 900. 
S. intermedia, Auersw.; Sacc. Syll. Fung, ii, 126 (1883). 
Had. — On dung of Giraffe ( Camelopardalis giraffa ), Dec. 1900; 
on Rabbit-dung, Reigate, Dec. 1900; on Horse-dung, Epping Forest, 
Oct. 1900. 
S. megalospora, Auersw. ; Sacc. Syll. Fung, ii, 126 (1883). 
Had . — On Horse-dung, Kew Green, Dec. 1900. 
Sporormiella nigropurpurea, Ell. & Everh. (Fig. 3). 
S. nigropurpurea , Ell. & Everh., N. Amer. Pyren., 136 (1892); Sacc. 
Syll. Fung, xi, 330 (1895). 
Perithecia soft, carnose, aggregated into groups and forming more 
or less extended continuous black patches; asci numerous, 1 10-140 
X io-ii n, narrowly cylindrical, often flexuose, narrowed below into 
a stalk, 8-spored ; paraphyses numerous, filiform, very slender ; spores 
usually biseriate in the upper part of the ascus, subcylindrical, 18- 
