633 



taining 2-6 perithecia having thick, coriaceous walls, and about \ mm. 

 diam. The asci are surrounded liy abundant paraphyses, and have the 

 spore-bearing part 55-60x8 // long. Sporidia uniseriate, short cymbi- 

 form, opake, 12-14x8 /, as noted by Cke. in Grev. XI. p. 123. " The 

 interior of the stroma shows a slight yellowish tint, like that of H, 

 Sassafras, Schw., but not as distinct The substance of the stroma is 

 quite soft, almost carnose.. 



H. fuseum, (Pers.) 



Sph&ria fusca, Pers. Syn. p. 12. 



Sphczria fragiformis, Hoflf. Veg. Crypt. I, p. 20. 



Sphtzria confluens, Willd. Flora Berol. p. 416. 



Sphteria tuberculosa, Bolt. Fuugi Hal. p. 123. 



Sphceria castorea, Tode Fungi Meckl. II, p. 28. 



Splueria Coryli and S. glomerata, DC. Fl. Fr. II, p. 287. 



Hypoxylon fuseum, Fr. Summa Veg. Scand. p. 384. 



Exsicc. Fckl. F. Rh. 1054. Rab. F. E. 628. Rehm Asc. 221. Sydovv, M. March. 165. 

 Thum. F. Austr. 664. id. M. U. 1861. Ell. N. A. F. 678. Desm. Pi. Cr. Ed. I, 476, 

 Cke. F. Brit. Ser. I, 246, Ser. II, 467. 



Stromata erumpent-superficial. solitary or subconnate, depressed- 

 pulvinate or hemispherical, generally 1-3 mm. diam., dark purplish- 

 red, finally black, somewhat uneven from the slightly projecting, small, 

 closely packed, irregularly monostichous, subglobose perithecia with 

 minute, mammilliform ostiola. Conidia verv minute, borne sino-lv at 



t, CI? / 



tlie extremities of short, sparingly branched sterigmata. Asci cylin- 

 drical, on long pedicels, spore-bearing part 80-90 x 7-8 JUL. Paraphyses 

 filiform. Sporidia uniseriate, subinequilaterally elliptical, opake and. 

 in the specimens examined, ll-14x 5-6 //, (12-16 x 5-7 [*, Sacc.). 



On dead alder, birch, hazel, beech and other deciduous tree- 

 common throughout the United States and Canada. 



H. botrys, Nitsch, Pyr. Germ. p. 34. 



Sphteria botryosa, Fckl. in F. Rh. 959. 



Stromata erunipent, aggregated and subconnate or oftener tuber- 

 culiform, 1-2 mm. diam., consisting of simple aggregations of perithecia 

 with very little stromatic material interposed, golden-yellow at first, 

 finally black, about J mm. diam.. about \ of the upper part of the 

 perithecia projecting. Asci cylindrical, 8-spored. with filiform par- 

 aphyses. Sporidia uniseriate, narrow-elliptical, brown, mostly 2- 

 nucleate, 12-14x5-7 p. The inner substance of the bark under the 

 stroma is whitened. 



On bark of a dead willow tree, Pointe a la Hache, La. (Langlois). 



We have no authentic specimens of this species, but the Louisiana 

 specimens agree so well with the description of H. botrys, Nits., that 



we have little hesitation in referring them to it. 



80 



