332 U)iiversity of California Puhlications in Botany [Vol.6 



the projections from the wall into the interior produce pressure from 

 within. However compact the structure of the ascocarp seems to be, 

 however, with the various projecting folds fitted closely together, a 

 slit througli one side of the cortex enables it to be opened, nearly all 

 the folds separating easily from each other. In a very few cases, 

 openings from the h^Tnenium to the surface of the ascocarp were 

 found. "Whether these exist in the early stages or occur as a result of 

 development has not yet been determined. 



Other variable characters in this species are color, from very light 

 to dark brov\-n ; surface, whether distinctly verrucose or smooth ; size 

 and shape of spores : and size and shape of paraphyses. The first three 

 of these characters are found to vary in plants of the same collection, 

 and the irregularity of spore shape and size is constant in all the plants 

 studied. The variability of paraphyses, however, seems due to another 

 cause. In the half-specimen labeled PseudJiydnofrya Harknessii in 

 the Harkness collection, and which may be half of the type specimen 

 of that species, though it is not so indicated, occasional clusters of 

 paraphyses are discovered which have the three or four terminal cells 

 enlarged (measuring 12-14ju,) and colored. The paraphyses being so 

 swollen are apparently fascicled between the asci, and some have 

 elongated above the latter, forming coarse bro\^Ti hairs. The h^^nenium 

 and the surface of the ascocarp are apparently connected in places, 

 though from the scanty material at hand it is impossible to determine 

 definitely this point. Tliose wliieli appear to be normal paraphyses 

 are colorless, little longer than the asci and have only the terminal cell 

 swollen, this measuring 2-6/t at the tip. In only two other cases have 

 paraphyses been found which differ from the latter description. One is 

 that of an ascocarp which has been attacked by insects, and the other of 

 an ascocarp badly infested with Nigrosphaeria Setckellii (Hk.) Gard- 

 ner (1905). In both these eases colored and much enlarged paraphyses 

 occur in close proximity to the affected portion of the plant, while all 

 others are small and colorless. It is possible in the specimen labeled 

 Pseudhydnotrya Harknessii that both the external openings and the 

 large paraphyses are the result of an abnormal condition in the asco- 

 carp, although, as previously stated, it is impossible to determine this 

 satisfactorily from the small amount of material available. The para- 

 physes of Pseudhydnotrya Harknessii were originally described as 7- 

 14/y, thick at the tip (Fischer, 1897a, p. 282), but since those measuring 

 2-6/x appear to be the normal ones, occuring in all the plants studied, 

 while the larger ones are rare and found under apparently ]iathological 



