kN Ix uw un. cub de. 
[cx 
1901] Clinton, — Two new Smuts on Eriocaulon 81 
the production of lateral sporidia, a few at a time, which readily 
fell off in the water and did not while attached or afterward reproduce 
themselves to any extent by budding. The sporidia were quite vari- 
able, oblong with ends somewhat acute, and chiefly 6-12 by 1-2.5 p. 
In solid nutrient media the germination of the spore-balls, when suc- 
cessful, was much more luxuriant, so that multitudes of more vigorous 
and connected sporidia were formed on the promycelia and were 
eventually extended further out into the medium by radiating threads, 
which at intervals gave rise to them, sometimes there being developed 
a series of distinct groups of connected sporidia though more likely 
through luxuriant budding these were all fused together as a common 
mass surrounding the spore-ball Cultures of the sporidia act in 
much the same way. 
In a search at South Billerica later in the month for plants of 
Eriocaulon septangulare that contained seeds which could be used for 
infection experiments with the Tolyposporium, it was found that all 
of the plants then at this locality were 
infected with a smut that was dif- 
ferent from that collected at Ellis. 
Upon examination this proved to be 
a new species of Ustilago. The in- 
fected heads were smaller than those 
containing the Tolyposporium, but 
like that fungus the smut was found 
only in the ovaries of the pistillate 
flowers. In this case, however, there 
were occasionally found ovaries that 
had matured their seeds. The in- 
fected ovaries are somewhat smaller 
than those infected by the other smut, are oval in shape and gener- 
ally broader than long, being about o.75 by 1 millimeter. They 
are more decidedly two lobed and being quite dark colored are 
more apt to be seen by the naked eye. Neither are they so easily 
ruptured and when broken open disclose a tightly packed mass of 
dark olive spores. In one case a head was found that contained 
both smuts. The two, however, are readily distinguished with the 
aid of a hand lens when their characteristics have been learned. 
The spores of the Ustilago (fig. 2) are quite different from those 
of the Tolyposporium, being irregularly polygonal to sub-spherical 
Fig. 2 
