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XVI. On the Morphology and the Development of the Perithecium of Meliola, a Genus 
of Tropical Epiphyllous Fungi. 
By H. Marshall Ward, B.A., Fellow of Owens College, Victoria University; late 
Cryptogamist to the Ceylon Government. 
Communicated by W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., M.A., Assistant Director, 
Royal Gardens Few. 
Received November 28,—Read December 14, 1882. 
[Plates 42-44.] 
During the course of recent researches into the nature of parasitic fungi, my atten¬ 
tion was arrested for some time by several forms of epiphytal growths which occupy a 
sort of half-way position between the more pronounced endophyllous parasites, and 
those fungi which cannot be looked upon as requiring more than a hold-fast or shelter 
from their hosts. Among these are the Meliolas, a group established by Fries in 
1825 to receive certain tropical fungi.* In the £ Annales des Sciences Naturelles’ 
for 185 it is a memoir by Bornet on the species constituting the genus Meliola, in 
which the characters of these remarkable epiphytes a,re enumerated and examined, 
and a classification of the known forms proposed : this paper is a standing authority 
on the subject, and I shall have occasion to refer to it at intervals subsequently, 
partly to confirm some of Bornet’s work, partly to add new observations and correct 
older views as to the nature or significance of various points. 
The Meliolas are minute epiphyllous fungi, belonging to the Pyrenomycetes, the 
deep-brown or black mycelium of which appears as sooty patches on many and various 
plants in the tropics, and presents, roughly, a similar appearance to the masses of 
Capnodium or Fumago sometimes observed in European woods on the leaves of living 
plants. 
Though, according to Bornet, several species must have been known under 
different names to the earlier botanists, the name established by Fries, and published 
in his revised system, was accepted by Montague and Leveille and has persisted 
since: Berkeley, in England, has referred to the group in his £ Cryptogamic 
Botany,’ and has described several species from the tropics in various papers. 
* ‘ Systema Orbis Vegetabilium.’ 
f Ser. iii.. Bot., t. xvi., pp. 257, &c. 
4 f 2 
