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CRYPTOSPHjERIA pclchella.
Elegant Cryptosphceria.
C la s s a n d Obdeh CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, £im—N a t . Oed. HVPOXYLA,
De Cand. Grev.
G EN ERIC CHARACTER.
Receptaculum 0. SptuemUe duriuscnke, sparsx vel aggegatce, sub epidermide
insidentes, ore nunc depresso nunc elongato, quandoque nullo; intus massa
gelatinosa sporulifera instructce.
Receptacle 0. Spherules corneous, scattered or aggregate, lying beneath
the epidermis, with the mouth depressed, elongated or wanting, containing
a gelatinous sporuliferous mass.
S P E C IF IC c h a r a c t e r .
CRYPTOSPH.EHIA pulcheUa; sphxrulx aggregatx, drcinnatm, ore JUiformi,
longissimo, Jlexuoso, depresso; thecis utrinque attenuatis, sporulis ovalibus.
\C. spherules aggregated, forming a circle, mouth filiform, very long, flexuose,
depressed; thecie attenuated at each extremity, the sporules oval.
C r y p to s p h ,e r i a pulchella, Grev. FI. Edin. ined.
SPH.ERIA pulcheUa, Pers. Tent. Disp. Meth. Fung. p. 3— Syn. Fung. p. 43—
Alb. et Schwein. Conspect. Fung. p. 22 De Cand. FI. Frang. v. 6. p. 127-
—Moug. et Nestl. PI. Crypt. Exsicc. No. 279-
CiRciNOSTOMA pulcheUura, Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. 1. p. 521.
H a b . On the dead trunks and branches o f Prunus Cerasus and Betnla alba
(the Cherry and the common Birch), at aU seasons. Carlowrie, near
Edinburgh. Abundant about Aviemore, and elsewhere in the Highlands
of Scotland, on fallen birch-trees.
Spherules smooth, black, round, minute, somewhat shining, crowded together
in a circular manner, with very long, slender, flexuose, converging
mouths. The spherules are sometimes collapsed, but that is the result
of drying. They form circles of different sizes, from one-eighth o f an
inch to half an inch in diameter; the smaller ones consisting o f few, the
larger ones of numerous spherules; and the larger the circle, the longer
also are the mouths, which converge and meet in the centre. Taken separately,
each spherule with its mouth bears a near resemblance to a retort
in miniature. Thecx or sporuliferous ceUs numerous, acutely attenuated
at each extremity, each containing 3-4 oval sporules.