ASCOBOLUS 85 



5. Ascobolus americanus (Cooke & Ellis) Seaver, sp. nov. 

 Ascohohis Leveillei americanus Cooke & Ellis, Gre\'illea 5: 52. 1876. 



Apothecia thickly gregarious, crowded, or more rarely scat- 

 tered, often nestling in little cavities in the substratum or 

 entirely superficial, at first globose or pyriform with the small 

 end directed downward, gradually expanding and becoming 

 subdiscoid above, never exceeding 1 mm. in diameter, externally 

 yellowish; hymenium plane or convex, at first greenish-yellow, 

 becoming almost black, strongly roughened by the protruding 

 asci; the component cells of the excipulum irregularly 6-sided, 

 reaching a diameter of 12-18 ju; asci broad-clavate, gradually 

 tapering below into a stem-like base, reaching a length of 200- 

 250 M and a diameter of 35-40 /x, when mature often stretching 

 to 400 /i, 8-spored; spores 2-seriate or irregularly disposed, ellip- 

 soid, thick-walled, at first hyaline, becoming violet, then brown, 

 for long time smooth, finally becoming delicately sculptured, 

 15-17 X 30-40^; spore-sculpturing taking the form of minute 

 granules which give to the surface of the spore a minutely warted 

 or pitted appearance; paraphyses about 2 or 3 /x in diameter, 

 scarcely thickened above, embedded in a greenish-yellow muci- 

 laginous substance. 



On dung of various kinds. 



Type locality: Newfield, New Jersey. 



Distribution : New Jersey to New York and Kansas. 



ExsiccATi: N. Am. Fungi 2333 (as Ascobolus glaher Pers.); 

 N. Am. Fungi 2620 (as Ascohohis vinosus Berk.). 



6. Ascobolus Leveillei Bond. Ann. Sci. Nat. Y. 10: 225. 1869. 

 Ascobolus Boudieri Quel. Ench. Fung. 293. 1886. 



Apothecia thickly gregarious, minute, sessile, subglobose, 

 with the base partially immersed in the substratum or entirely 

 superficial, externally brownish, slightly roughened, reaching a 

 diameter of 0.5 m.m.; hymenium becoming convex, at first 

 greenish, finally becoming darker, almost black; the component 

 cells of the excipulum roundish or angular, reaching a diameter 

 of 15-20 ^t; asci clavate, tapering below into a stem-like base, 

 reaching a length of 140-160 fi and a diameter of 28-30 ij., 8- 

 spored; spores 2-seriate or irregularly disposed, at first hyaline, 

 then purple, later brown, ellipsoid, for a long time smooth, 

 becoming minutely sculptured, 13-15 X 24-28 fx; spore-sculp- 

 turing taking the form of minute granules which give to the 



