51 



a noticeable character would scarcely have been overlooked or omit- 

 ted from the description, had "it existed, I deem our plant worthy of 

 specific distinction; and, partly from the dried specimens, but more 

 from full notes and colored sketches by Miss Banning, who dis- 

 covered and communicated the specimens, I have drawn up the fol- 

 lowing description : 



PoLYPORUS (Merisma) lactifluus. — Pilei growing from a 

 common tuberiform base, variously lobed, confluent or imbri- 

 cated, sometimes imperfectly infundibuliform, six to ten inches broad, 

 subtomentose or pubescent, whitish, marked with broad ferruginous 

 or subochraceous zones, rough with slight radiating ridges, the margin 

 thick, obtuse, sometimes flexuous ; flesh white, firm, hard when dry, 

 and exuding freely'a milky juice where cut when fresh; pores medium 

 size, unequal, irregular, often angular of flexuous, decurrent, white, 

 at first short with thick dissepiments, then longer with thin but entire 

 dissepiments; spores globose, rough, .0003 — .00035 of an inch in di- 

 ameter. Old stumps. Near Baltimore, Md. M. E. Banning. 



Explanation of the Plate. — Ascomycetella quercina^ Pk, — 

 Fig. I. Leaf of black oak bearing the fungus. A. The conidial 

 form of the fungus. B. The ascigerous form of the fungus. Fig. 2. 

 A tuft of the conidial form magnified. Fig. 3. A stem with six of its 

 tufts of conidia still attached, x 400. Fig. 4. Vertical view of a tuft 

 of conidia, x 400. Fig. 5. Side view of a tuft of conidia, x 400. Fig. 

 6. A tuft of conidia pressed apart, showing the separated conidia, x 

 400. Fig. 7. A cluster of asci and their receptacle, magnified. 

 Fig. 8. A single ascus containing immature spores, x 400. Fig. 9. 

 Two free immature spores, x 400. Fig. 10. Two free mature 

 spores, x 400, 



46. Some New Species of North American Fungi.* 



By J. B. Ellis and H. W. Harkness, M.D. 



Sphaeronema capillare, E. & H. — Ferithecia capillary, black, 

 1" high, slightly enlarged at the base and also at the apex ; terminal 

 globule pale; stylospores cylindric, obtuse, more or less bent or 

 curved, with several transparent nuclei, .001' — .ooi5'x.ooi5' — .002. 



On bark of chestnut logs, Bethlehem, Pa., October. 



Sporidesmium Rauii, E. & H. — Tufts suborbicular, scattered or 

 subconfluent, salmon- colored', minute; conidia obovate, composed 

 of many compacted, partly transparent cells, with a large hyaline 

 vescicle at the base, about .0015' long, with the basal cell, and .0007' 

 — .0008' wide. Differs from S, 7norifor7ne^ Pk., only in color. 



On bark of an old grape-vine, Bethlehem, Pa., November, 1880. 

 E. A. Rau- 



Mytilin-tdion Californicum, E. & H. — Perithecia conchi- 

 form, .035' long, faintly striate; lips closely compressed at first, 

 at length partially open; asci clavato-cylindric, .001 7'x. 0003'; spo- 

 ridia biseriate, oblong-fusiform, yellowish, triseptate, sometimes 

 slightly constricted at the septum, .0005' — .0006' long. 



On foliage of Sequoia giganiea ("Big Trees "), California. H. 

 W. Harkness. ^ 



*Continued from page 28. 



