234 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
there has often been found growing with it a second species, M. ten- 
-errimus. While the two are alike in general characters they are 
amply distinct by the following: M. chthonoplastes has trichomes 
2.5—6 u diam., densely packed in sheaths 20-30 u wide. M. tener- 
rimus has trichomes 1.5—2 y diam., few in number, in a sheath ro- 
15 p Wide. It was found in rather small quantity with M. chthon- 
oplastes at Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine, by Mr. 
Isaac Holden, and is to be expected anywhere that the ‘commoner 
species is found. 
XENococcus KERNERI Hansgirg, Phys. & Alg. Studien, p. 111, 
Pl. I, 1887. The cells of this species form a denser and more mem- 
branous coating to the host plant than do the cells of X. Schousboei 
Thuret, our only species previous to this. Probably as a conse- 
quence of this arrangement, the cells are vertically elongated, and 
may reach a height of 10 w with a diameter of 4 ù. The species was 
originally described as growing in fresh water in Bohemia ; as No. 
685 of Hauck & Richter, Phycotheca Universalis, specimens were 
distributed, collected in brackish water in East Africa; it was found 
by the writer growing abundantly on old plants of Cladophora, in a 
high tide pool at Cohasset, Mass., Oct. 12, 19or, and was distributed 
as No. 952, Phycotheca Boreali-Americana. 
MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS. 
CHARLES JAMES SPRAGUE died August sth at his summer home in 
Hingham in his eighty-first year. Mr. Sprague was born in Boston 
January 16th, 1823, and was a banker by profession, although he 
retired from active business many years ago, devoting himself there- 
after to literary and botanical pursuits. He was a poet and musician 
of rare taste. For some years he was the botanical curator of the 
Boston Society of Natural History. He was an intimate friend of 
the late Dr. Asa Gray, to whose collections he contributed many valu- 
able specimens and critical notes. Like the late Edwin Faxon, Mr. 
Sprague was more anxious to aid others in their investigations than 
to publish the results of his own patient and critical observations. 
Realizing the importance of specialization he directed his attention 
chiefly to the lichens. His valuable collection representing this dif- 
ficult group of plants has for some time been property of the Boston 
Society of Natural History. One of Mr. Sprague's most important 
botanical papers was his treatment of the lichens contributed to Mr. 
John Robinson's Flora of Essex County, Massachusetts. 
