Notes and Brief Articles

of this abnormal fruiting pattern. However, it is more likely that staticelectricity present on the surface of the plastic interferes with the de­velopment of the sporangia. In fact, sporangia of S. fusca placed in anempty Petri dish are strongly attracted by the plastic, arranging them­selves parallel to the surface of the dish. This phenomenon is not observedin glass Petri dishes.

I am indebted to Professor C. Terrier for the use of laboratory facilitiesand to Dr U. P. Roos for help with the manuscript. I thank Mr R.Jean­neret for taking the photographs.

REFERENCES

GRAY, W. D. & ALEXOPOULOS, C.]. (1968). Biology oj the myxomycetes. Ronald Press,New York. 288. pp

MARTIN, G. W. & ALEXOPOULOS, C.]. (1969). The Myxomycetes. University oflowa Press,Iowa City. 561 pp.

McMANUS, S. M. A. (1961). Culture of Stemonitis Jusca on glass. American Journal ojBotany 48, 582-588.

McMANUS, S. M. A. & RICHMOND, S. M. V. (1961). Spore to spore culture on agar ofStemonitis fusca. American Midland Naturalist 65, 246.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 64Stemonitis fusca

Fig. I. Fructifications on folded filter paper placed on the agar. Sporangia are perpendicularto the substrate. Note the cylindrical sporangial heads and the stalks. The arrow points to therounded base of a sporangial head (x 1'5).

Fig. 2. Fructifications on the cover of a plastic Petri dish (seen from the underside). The flattenedsporangia are parallel to the substrate and arranged along an arc. The arrow points to thecrescent-shaped base of a sporangia! head ( x 2).

CONIDIA OF AQUATIC HYPHOMYCETESFROM SWAZILAND

C. T. INGOLD

Birkbeck College, University of London

During a brief visit to Swaziland in March I973 I was able to collectsamples of foam and scum from two small forest streams a few miles fromLuyengo, the campus of the Swaziland Agricultural College and Univer­sity Centre. The samples contained a number of thin-walled, hyalineconidia presumably of aquatic hyphomycetes. Some of these could beidentified with confidence as belonging to known species, namelyTriscelophorus monosporus Ingold, Actinospora megalospora Ingold, Alatosporaacuminata Ingold, Flagellospora curvula Ingold, and Dactylella appendiculataAnastasiou (Fig. I). Although only a single conidium of the last specieswas seen (Fig. I, D), there is little doubt about the identification. Thisappears to be the first report of the species since its discovery byAnastasiou (1964) on leaves in water in Hawaii.

Trans. Br. mycol, Soc. 61 (3), (1973). Printed in GreatBritain

608 Transactions British Mycological Society

Fig . 1. Branched, hyaline conidia from Swaziland: all dr awn to the same scale excep tpart of H . A, Actinospora megalospora; B, four conidia of Tricladiumsp.: c, three conidia ofArticulospora sp. j D, Dactylella appendiculata; E, Alatospora acuminata; F, Triposporium sp. :G, conidium of an unknown genus ; H, central region oflarge tetraradiate con id ium, andwhole conidium at much lower magnification; I, Triscelophorus monosporus.

Trans. Br, mycol, Soc. 61 (3), (1973). Printedin Great Britain

Notes and Brief Articles

By far the commonest type of conidium was a tetraradiate one withconspicuous septa (Fig. I, c) probably belonging to an undescribed speciesof Articulospora.

A considerable number of conidia of an unknown species of Tricladiumwere seen. The conidium had very long and narrow arms. Under highpower it seemed to be aseptate, but using an oil-immersion lens occasionalsepta could be dimly seen, especially in the main axis just below the originof each lateral. Another feature of these conidia was that the surface wasrough, appearing distinctly granulose at very high magnification.

Fifteen years ago very large tetraradiate conidia were recorded froma stream in Uganda (Ingold, 1958) and in a further visit to the same localitysix years later I again collected these in considerable numbers. In thesamples from Swaziland exactly the same kind of conidium occurred(Fig. I, H).

Also present was a conidium referable to Triposporium sp. (Fig. I, F).There was further a triradiate type belonging, no doubt, to an un­described genus (Fig. I, G).

In addition to branched kinds there were, as usual, a number of long,thread-like conidia mostly sigmoid and with the curvature lying in morethan one plane. Of these conidia those of Flagellospora curvula could berecognized with confidence, others probably belonged to Anguillospora spp.

REFERENCES

ANASTASIOU, C.]. (1964). Some aquatic Fungi Imperfecti from Hawaii. Pacific Science18, 202-206.

INGOLD, C. T. (1958). Aquatic hyphomycetes from Uganda and Rhodesia. Transac­tions ofthe British Mycological Society 41, 109- 114.

Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 61 (3), (1973). Printed in Great Britain