Clavarias of the United States and Canada 73 



the rugosa form of this species. The spores are given as 7f* 

 thick, spherical. 



Spores of C. histrix from West Virginia, at the New York 

 Botanical Garden, are 5.2-6 x 7-8.4[x and those of our No. 2221 are 

 the same. At the New York Botanical Garden is also the type of 

 C. sphaerospora E. & E. They look like simple or sparingly 

 branched forms of C. cristata and have the same spores, 6-7.4 x 

 7-8[x. The type plants of C. Herveyi show it to be the rugosa 

 form of this species. Plants from Bresadola at the New York 

 Botanical Garden determined by him as C. grossa Pers. look just 

 like small C. cinerea and have spores subspherical, 6-8 x 7-9[i. 

 (Bres.). In the Curtis Herbarium are a good many collections 

 labelled C. cristata. Most of them are true, as one from the 

 Schweinitz Herbarium (spores 6.6 x 7.5(a) and one from E. P. 

 Fries, Upsala (spores 7.3 x S\l) ; some look like C. stricta and 

 one from Peck seems to be C. byssiseda, and a Rhode Island col- 

 lection (Olney) is perhaps C. Kunsei. In the same herbarium a 

 collection from Bordeaux, France, labelled C. grisea is the cinerea 

 form of C. cristata, with large subspherical spores. Two other 

 collections from Europe labelled C. cinerea are like our plants. 

 There is none from Fries under C. cinerea. From the description 

 C. comosa Pat. (Bull. Soc. Myc. Fr. 22 : 196. 1906) may be Rea's 

 var. gracilis of C. cinerea. 



Many students prefer to divide this group into several species, 

 but we have been unable to rind any differences either in gross 

 character or in microscopic detail of sufficient importance or con- 

 sistency to enable us to distinguish species within the group. Ro- 

 mell, too, writes (April 16, 1920) that he does not see any distinct 

 limit between C. cristata, C. cinerea, and C. rugosa. Maire and 

 Juel have studied nuclear division in the basidia of this group. The 

 former found that in C. rugosa the spindle was more or less par- 

 allel with the long axis of the basidium and that the spores were 

 uninucleate (Bull. Soc. Myc. Fr. 18: 85, pi. 2, figs. 15-20. 1902). 

 He says that C. grisea is similar to C. rugosa in all essential char- 

 acters. Juel studied C. cinerea and C. cristata and found them like 

 Maire's two species and like each other (Nova Acta Reg. Soc. Sci. 

 Upsaliensis, ser. 4, 4: 1. 1916). In C. cinerea he finds (pi. 2, 

 figs. 28-32) eight nuclei in the basidium and one passes into each 

 of the two spores. The six other nuclei remain in good condition 



