be impossible to classify satisfactorily without regard to the perithecia, and equally so if the sporidia were disregarded. It is just the absence of any reference to the sporidia which makes the species of the genus Sphæria (as originally limited) so difficult to identify, and which has sometimes led to the publication of the same species under different names, and at other times to the combination, under the same name, of species which ought to be widely separated.

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The following observations on the mode of opening of the perithecia, and the nature of the ostiola, are well deserving of attention :-" In quanto al modo di aprirsi dei pirenii, alle loro boccuccie, confesseremo di non sapervi concedere che un apprezzamento secondario... "a tutti è noto quanto siano variabili l'aspetto, la lunghezza, la "direzione dei becchi in una medesima specie (poni: Sphæria ceratosperma, spiculosa, aspera, etc.) secondo le accidentalità di posi"zione dei pirenii sia riguardo alla matrice (se più o meno in essa 'sprofondati), sia riguardo alla luce, all umidità od aridità di cui "subiscano maggiore o minore influenza."

The authors then proceed to deal with the question of the sporidia, organs the importance of which can hardly be exaggerated. No one can differ from them when they say, Affermiamo con piena con"vinzione che andrebbe fallita ogni classazione delle "sferiacée si tentasse, respingendo nel fondo le considerazioni desunte “dall'indole del nucleo dei pirenii ed in particolare i caratteri deri"vabili dagli sporidii."

The details of the different points to be relied upon are contained in a passage at p. 15, and, as we have some doubts whether in one or two places we have read the remarks in the sense intended by the writers, the safer course is to transcribe the passage, which is as follows:-"Toccando poi dei singoli carratteri che si desumono dagli

sporidii, ci sembra che attualmente si possa attendere con molto "vantaggio al colore di essi, come ne fanno fede i generi Hypoxylon, "Sordaria, Rosellinia. Importante del pari ci si appresta la consi"derazione delle pareti secondo loro natura: quindi resta confermato "il bellissmo e naturalissimo genere delle Massarie. La forma degli 'sporidii quando sia riducibile a certi tipi ben pronunziati, merita "attenzione al pari del loro numero per ogni asco. Se havvi disparità grande nella forma degli sporidii (p. es.se bacillari, aghiformi, ovvero ovali, romboidali, sigmoidei, etc.) non sarà facile che le sferie "s' accordino negli altri caratteri generici e viceversa. In quanto al numero, conviene essere cauti nelle illazioni. Il normale é l'otto

66

"nario: può ridursi ai quattro o salire sino ai 10-12 senza che gli sporidii perdano della consueta caratteristica forma ed indole. Ma "allorquando diventano eminentemente polispori, li sporidii si fanno "minutissimi, spermazioidei, e grande sospetto ci punge che s' abbia "a fare con una fruttificazione anormale. ...

From this extract it would almost seem as if the colour of the sporidia was considered to be of generic importance; but this cannot be the meaning intended, for the colour is the same in each of the three genera given as illustrations, viz., Hypoxylon, Sordaria (which includes Sph. ligniaria, pulveracea, &c.), and Rosellinia, which contains Sph. aquila, thelena, and other allied species. With regard to the value of the nature of the walls of the sporidia, it seems, in the passage above extracted, to be estimated too highly. The genus Massaria can hardly be said to depend upon the structure of the sporidia. No doubt the thick gelatinous coat is a remarkable feature, but it is not confined to this particular genus, the main character of which is the ejection of the sporidia in a black mass, the "sporæ nigræ septatæ cum gelatina profluentes et fœde atro-inquinantes," as Fries describes it. The question as to the number of sporidia in each ascus is one of some interest. The number may advance far beyond 10-12 (the limit given in the above extract) without the sporidia losing in any degree their characteristic form and structure. For instance, in the plant which is sometimes called Sph. quercina, and sometimes Sph. verrucaformis, as well as in the allied, if not identical species known as Sph. aspera and Sph. favacea, it will be seen that the sporidia, although they may be described as numerosissima, never vary in the slightest degree in size or colour. Or again, if we take Halonia (or Cryptosphæria) ditopa, the number of the sporidia is considerable, but their individual characters are quite invariable. In Sphæria botryospora Fr., and possibly in other species also, the sporidia are certainly of a kind to lead to the suspicion "che s'abbia a fare con una fruttificazione anormale;" and if the normal and perfect state could be traced out and ascertained, it would be a good service to Mycology.

The above comments refer to the introductory portion of this essay, and the systematic portion must now be briefly noticed. We may observe, in the first instance, that under each genus there is given a list of a number of species, not exclusively Italian, which are considered as characteristic.

Not having access to the "Giornale Botanico Italiano," we are

not aware of the grounds upon which the genera Cordyceps, Claviceps, Torrubia, Hypocrea, and Nectria have been made a distinct family under the title Hypocreacei; but from the principles put forward in the introduction, it may be presumed to be on account of the structure of the perithecia, which would afford sufficient reason for separation from the rest of the Sphæriacei. The name Hypocreacei is open to some objection, on account of the genus Hypocrea being distinguished by a horizontal sessile stroma, a character wholly at variance with the three first genera of the division. The name, however, is not of vital importance, and the classification is satisfactory in carrying out Fries' views,* by making Hypocrea a stepping-stone between Cordyceps and Nectria. The only species difficult to deal with are Hypocrea alutacea, which combines the form and vertical stroma of Cordyceps with the fruit of Hypocrea, and Cordyceps (or Epichloe) typhina, which is a Dothidea with the fruit of a Cordyceps. In a note at p. 19, under Hypocrea lateritia, it is stated that Rabenhorst's specimens of Hypocrea lactea, both in the first and second editions, are only the eggs of insects, although the species is admitted by Fries in the "Summa Vegetabilium Scandinaviæ." With regard to Rabenhorst's second edition, Tulasne has made the same observation in the "Selecta fungorum carpologia," p. 124.

Under Nectria inaurata, B. and Br., a question is raised with regard to the small bodies observed by Mr. Berkeley in this species and in N. cucurbitula, and called by him microspores, the nature of which is said to be doubtful. This is a point well deserving of further investigation, especially with regard to the suggestion in the introduction as to the existence of an abnormal fructification. With regard to the analogy suggested between N. inaurata and N. Cesatii Mont., we doubt whether the sporidia of the former are truly appendiculate, although they may sometimes have the appearance of being so on account of the commencement of germination. It may be mentioned that Oomyces B. and Br., is placed after Nectria in the division Hypocreacei.

The second great division, the "Sphæriacei," is subdivided into 37 genera, which it may be useful to pass shortly in review in the order in which they occur: Xylaria and Poronia are adopted as in Fries' S. V. S.,† a subgenus, Fracidiopsis, being introduced for Xylaria

See Summa Veg. Sc. p. 383.

†These initials are adopted to shorten the long title, "Summa Vegetabilium Scandinaviæ."

Guepinii Fr. Daldinia is a new genus, formed for the reception of Sphæria concentrica Bolt. and Sphæria vernicosa Schwein., in which the concentrically zoned stroma is a character which may fairly be considered generic. Hypoxylon is adopted as in the S. V. S., and Diatrype partially so, the latter being properly qualified by limiting it to the species with simple spores, and by making two sections: Sect. I. Ascis octosporis; Sect. II. Ascis polysporis. Melogramma is taken as in the S. V. S.

Ascoxyta (Libert. ex part.), which follows, is a genus with which we are not acquainted, but with regard to its position, it may be observed that Fries places it far off amongst his Phyllostictei.*

Aglaospora is a genus which the authors illustrate by referring to Sphæria profusa Fr. and Sph. ocellata Fr. It does not appear what other species, if any, may be intended to be included, but so far as regards the two which are mentioned the genus seems unnecessary, for Sphæria ocellata is said, in the present work, to be probably only a form of Sph. profusa Fr., and S. profusa differs so little, if at all, from the Massariæ, that it is a question whether it ought not to be placed with them. The characters of Aglaospora, as given in the S. V. S. p. 411, are not correct, for the asci, although sometimes tetrasporous, more frequently (in this country at least) have eight sporidia.

With regard to Rabenhorstia (S. V. S. 410 ex parte), there seems to be some confusion. The authors exclude R. rudis Fr. on the ground of its not having asci; but the genus itself, as established by Fries, has no asci, differing in this respect from Hercospora, with which Fries had formerly united it.†

Valsaria and Pseudovalsa, are formed for the reception of species having, for the most part, the vegetative characters of Valsa. Valsaria includes the species with bilocular sporidia, and Pseudovalsa those with plurilocular sporidia, such as Sph. lanciformis Fr. These two genera, although depending upon fructification alone, will probably be generally admitted.

We now come to Valsa, which represents the genus of Fries, limited, however, to those species which have "sporidia spermatioidea ut in (ascis) Diatrypes." Endothia radicalis is entered under Valsa, but we understand that the authors are now of opinion that Endothia should form a separate genus, as in S. V. S. With regard to Valsa

See S. V. S. p. 425, note.

† See S. V. S. p. 410, note.

leiphamia Fr., it is possible that more than one species may have been published by Fries under that name, but the plant generally known as Valsa leiphamia Fr. has certainly bilocular sporidia, and would, according to the arrangements in this work, belong to Valsaria.

The genus Valsa is followed by Mamiania, which contains those species of Sphæria, Diatrype and Valsa, which have a determinate verrucæform stroma and 2-4 locular, or at least 2-4 nucleate sporidia, as, for example, Diatrype strumella Fr.

Botryosphæria includes certain quondam species of Sphæria and Gibbera, and may be considered as represented by the Sphæria pulicaris of the Systema Mycologicum.

Under Cucurbitaria are arranged Sph. Berberidis, Laburni, Spartii, and the species allied to them; Gibbera and Massaria are the old genera of those names; Pleospora is the genus established by Rabenhorst in the 2nd edition of his "Herbarium Mycologicum," and Lophiostoma includes the Lophiostoma of Berkeley's Outlines. Next to Lophiostoma follows Sphæria, which, as here limited, includes plants with perithecia more or less carbonaceous and therefore brittle, and having 3-plurilocular sporidia of an oval, oblong, or oblong-fusiform shape. The reasons for which Amphisphæria, which is the next genus, is separated from Sphæria are thus given :"Sejunguntur vel ob sporidia didyma, vel ex eo quod nonnullæ species "Lichenes Verrucarieos inter et Sphærias ambigunt." The didymous sporidia alone would hardly justify a separate genus, and it does not appear which of the species are considered to approximate to the Verrucaria. The species bufonia futilis, conformis, and fuscella, are surely good Sphæriæ. This latter one, it may be observed, is entered subsequently under Leptosphæria (see p. 62), a genus which will have to be noticed hereafter. Bertia (under which are found Sphæria moriformis and Bombarda), is a genus already known and admitted by Fries, and Venturia is established for the reception of Sph. Rosa D. Ntrs., Sph. Dickiei B. and Br., S. macrotricha B. and Br., and the allied species. Under the name of Sordaria are classed those plants which have rugulose or setulose perithecia, and simple ovoid brown or black sporidia, as well as those curious species in which the sporidia, in the young state at least, are caudate at one extremity. A remarkable feature in this group is the very different nature of the habitats of the different species, occurring as they do, some upon

*

S. V. S. p.