/ f i o .
M Y R O T H E C r oM Caemichaelii.
Carmichael’s Myrothecium.
C l a s s a n d O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, £ m « . _ N A T . O r d . G A S T ROM YC I,
Link, Grev.
GEN ERIC CHARACTER.
Sporangium Jîguroe inieterminatoe. Peridium simplex, laxejloccosu 7Uj tandem in
medio evanescens. Sporulæ minutisâmoe, prima oetate fluidiusculoe, dein com-
pactæ.
Sporangium of an irregular figure. Peridium simple, filamentous, disappearing
at length in the centre. Sporules very minute, somewhat
fluid when young, becoming compact.
S P E C IF IC CHARACTER.
M y r o t h e c iu m Carmichaelii; peridio polymorphe, candido; sporulis viridibus
nigrescentibus cylindricis.
M. peridium irregular in form, white ; sporules green, becoming blackish,
cylindrical.
Hab. On masses of subputrescent vegetable substances. Appin, Captain
C a r m i c h a e l .
Sporangia of various forms, 1-3 lines in length or breadth, rarely exactly
circular, often irregularly sinuose, white, depressed. Peridium formed
of an interwoven mass of fine filaments, which gradually give way, and at
length altogether disappear towards the centre, leaving the mass of
sporules exposed. Sporules forming a semifluid pulp in the young
state, in the whole genus, at length compact, b u t not pulverulent. In
the present species they are exactly cylindrical.
.For the addition of this highly curious genus to the British
Flora, we are indebted to Captain C a r m i c h a e l , whose specimens
are abundantly distinct from the other two species which
have been described. Of the latter, good figures have been published
by S t u r m in his excellent little Deutschlands Flora.
M . Verrucaria, (Ditm.) has ovate sporules. M . inundatum,
(Tode,) has globose ones: the three species have, however, such
a strong general resemblance to each other, that it is necessary