White : The Nidulariaceae of North America 275 



Fischer * in writing of Nidularia says that there are sixteen 

 known species, but though De Toni f gives eighteen from all parts 

 of the world, it is more than probable that several of these are 

 either synonyms of other species or belong to other genera. 

 Tulasne gives eleven species, to nine of which he adds " non 

 vidimus" ! the remaining two being new species — Nididaria aus- 

 tralis from Chili, South America, and Nidularia Diiriacana from 

 LaCalle, Algeria (Mauritania), From America several additional 

 species have been described, namely, Nididaria Alabauiensis Atk. % 

 from Alabama, which we have reduced to Granularia pidvinata, 

 and Nidularia rubella E. & E. § from New Jersey. This last 

 species is very uncertain, in fact it may not belong to this family at 

 all, as the sporangioles are quite different in texture from those of all 

 the other species, and have never been found to contain any spores, 

 being filled with small pieces of amorphous hyaline matter. It is 

 hard to believe that the plants are in an immature condition as the 

 peridial walls have in some specimens almost entirely disappeared. 

 The only remaining species of Nididaria which has been described 

 in this country is Nidularia Candida Peck which has been referred 

 to the preceding genus. Two heretofore unpublished species of 

 Granularia complete our present list : Granularia castanea, a 

 herbarium species of Ellis & Everhart, under the name of Nidularia 

 castanea, from New Jersey found in 1883, and Granularia rudis 

 Peck, from California. 



Synopsis of the Species of Granularia 



Sporangioles numerous, small (l mm. or less in diameter). 



Peridium tubercular, pulverulent. I. G. pulvinata. 



Peridium only slightly tubercular, not pulverulent. 2. G. castanea. 



Sporangioles few, larger (2 mm. or more in diameter). 3. G. rudis. 



I. Granularia pulvinata (Schwein.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 



2:855. 1891 

 Cjathus pidvinatus Sch-wtm. Fung. Car. Sup. 51. 18 18. 

 Nidularia pulvinata Fries, Syst. Myc. 2 : 301. 1822 ; Schwein. 

 Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 4: 253. 1834. 



*Engler & Prantl. Nat. Pflanzenfara. i^** : 326. 1899. 



t Saccardo. Syll. Fung. 7 : 28. 1888 ;— 9 : 265. 1891 ;— 11 : 156. 1895 ;— 14 : 

 256. 1899. 



I Bull. Cornell Univ. (Science) 3 : 23. 1897. 

 I Bull. Torrey Club, 11 : 18. 1884. 



