98 Rhodora [APRIL 
ces-like conditions not infrequently occur, in which the primary head 
gives rise directly to the spores. On the other hand it should be men- 
tioned that in at least one described species of Oedocephalum,! 
Choanephora-like conditions may occur in which the primary heads, 
instead of producing spores, give rise *tosbranchlets bearing sporif- 
erous capitula. 
Having been greatly interested in this genus, which at the time 
was only known to me through the description and figures of Cun- 
ningham, I was not a little surprised, about a dozen years since, to 
find growing on decaying squashes on the farm of Mr. Kendall, near 
the Cascades at Waverley, Mass., a fungus having exactly the charac- 
ters of the conidial form of Choanephora. Since no such plant had 
ever been described from America, I was at first inclined to believe 
that it was a new species, but further search for it in the literature led 
to the conclusion that, notwithstanding the fact that its characters 
were quite unlike those of Rhopalomyces, it had been included in 
this genus by Berkeley as long ago as 1875, having been described 
in Grevillea under the name JA. cucurbitarum from material on 
squashes sent by Ravenel from Lower Carolina. This conclusion 
was confirmed some years after by an examination of the type in the 
herbarium at Kew, for which privilege I was indebted to the kindness 
of Mr. Massee, who had already been so good as to favor me with a 
sketch of its spores in connection with the preparation of an earlier 
paper on Oedocephalum and Rhopalomyces published in 1891, ( Bot. 
Gazette, Vol. XVI, p. 201). Material of R. cucurbitarum was also 
received from Prof. Peck, who collected it in New York; as well as 
from Ohio, where it was collected by Prof. Morgan ; and in both 
instances the fungus proved identical with my New England Choan- 
ephora. An examination of the Curtis Herbarium at Harvard, more- 
over, brought to light specimens of the same plant under the name 
“ Aspergillus cucurbitaceus” the material being labeled “ Hillsborough, 
N. C., on squashes.” 
Having in mind the supposed tropical proclivities of Choanephora, 
I took advantage of the opportunity offered during a recent collect- 
ing trip in Florida to make cultures of various faded flowers, and at 
1 The species here referred to is redescribed by Matruchot in the January num- 
ber of thenew Annales Mycologici as the type of a new genus, under the name 
Cunninghamella africana. If this generic name is to stand, the species should be 
known as C. echinulata, since it was originally described by me as Oedocephalum 
echinulatum in 1891. 
