156 P. T. Brooks. 
The plate-like fructifications of Ustulina zoncita are several 
inches across when fully developed and are marked by an irregular 
and obscurely zoned surface, which is punctured by minute black 
dots scarcely visible to the naked eye. The outline of the fruit-body 
is irregular and the centre is often roughly corrugated. Petch (4) 
points out that the fungus is extremely variable, and says that the 
fructifications are sometimes stalked. The variation in the Malayan 
specimens is also a marked feature. If the grey brown surface of 
the fructification is scratched, a black layer is seen which is also 
exposed at times by the natural wearing away of the thin covering. 
Fig. 4. Ustulina zonata. A. Section of the upper part of a fructificatiou 
shevying the conidial stage (material sent from Ceylon), x 630 : a, conidio- 
phores; b, portion of upper black layer. B. Diagram, about eight times 
natural size, of section of mature fructification ; for explanation see Text. 
C. Mature ascospores, x 330. 
The fruit-bodies though rather soft when young are brittle when 
mature; they are about £ inch thick or rather less. Fig. 4, B, 
illustrates the different layers seen in section when a mature 
fructification is broken across. On the upper surface a represents 
the remains of the greyish brown film which, in the Malayan 
specimens so far examined, is sterile, but in the Ceylon specimens 
gives rise to the conidial stage; b is the upper black zone which 
