82 Rhodora [APRIL 
or occasionally more elongated, much darker, prominently verrucu- 
lose and 9-15 p in diameter. 
This Ustilago was only germinated in water in the incubator and 
was found to produce usually a four celled pro-mycelium about 3 p 
wide and four or five times as long as diameter of spores. This pro- 
duced terminal and lateral sporidia, which fell off before others were 
produced. Sometimes the germ-threads became more elongated, 
septate and empty at base and had a tendency to restrict the proto- 
plasm to several places in the thread from which the sporidia were 
sprouted off, sometimes two or even three standing side by side. 
Such threads are apt to become detached from the spores and break 
up somewhat into joints. The sporidia vary considerably, generally 
being oblong in shape and in size about 6—12 by 1.5-3 p. 
The writer is indebted to Professor Thaxter for aid in the study of 
these smuts and expects to treat more fully of their life history in a 
paper on some American Ustilagineae that is in preparation. The 
drawings of the spores of the two smuts as given here are magnified 
about goo diameters. The specific characters may be given as fol- 
lows: 
Tolyposporium Eriocauli, n. s. Sori greyish, oval, somewhat 
two-lobed, 1-2 mm. in length, easily ruptured; spore-balls firm, black, 
perfectly opaque, irregularly oblong to subspherical, frequently some- 
what angled, 65-275 » in diameter ; spores sub-spherical to spherical, 
light-colored, adhering together by dark winged folds which on rup- 
ture of balls show as reticulations or spine-like processes or become 
entirely detached, 8—11 p in diameter exclusive of processes. 
Inconspicuous in ovaries of pistillate flowers of Erzocaulon septarig- 
ulare With., Ellis, Massachusetts. 
Ustilago Eriocauli, n. s. Sori black, oval, very distinctly two 
lobed, usually about o.75 mm. long by 1 mm. wide, firm, not easily 
ruptured; spores tightly packed together in a dark olive mass, 
irregularly polygonal to sub-spherical though occasionally more 
elongated, prominently verruculose, 9—15 u in diameter. 
Inconspicuous in ovaries of pistillate flowers of Hrzocaulon septang- 
ulare With., South Billerica, Massachusetts. 
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. 
